Love

Love.
The early Church Fathers and Mothers wrote book after book about love.

Those I refer to were written around 350-650 AD. But when these were translated into English something curious happened. In translation, the word “charity” was more widely used over the word “love”. Is that what the authors would have wanted?

Yes.

“Charity” infers that any love worth its salt is grounded in unconditional commitment. Charity suggests the real lover in any relationship is the one who is serving. Stooping. Sacrificing.

Charity affirms people as they are seen through God’s eyes. It gets underneath and raises them up to that reality – despite what appearances might suggest. Despite how anyone feels about them.

All the "fruit of the Spirit" sit within this basket of Charity.

Charity is the fundamental culture of God’s Kingdom.

In fact, all of us who are members of His Tribe are so loved – that even when we fail or lack faith – He thinks of us as inseparable from His own person.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful,
for He cannot deny Himself.
– 2 Timothy 2:13

Faithful to you. Because He cannot deny Himself.

Make this day a day in which you understand how treasured you are as a child of God, “in Christ”. Meditate on the above expression of God’s unconditional commitment to you. Then, see that your spouse and children feel and experience it, too – by your words and your actions, both.