Do you ever stop to think about who loves you?

Who encourages you?

Who prays for you relentlessly, for your encouragement, for either your salvation or your growth in Christ, for eyes to see truth and live it, and for all things that weigh heavy on your heart?

Who protects you when they are with you and when they are not?

Who cheers you on in whatever your efforts, even if they aren’t recognized by anyone else or they fall flat?

Who speaks well of you to others, even when you aren’t around to hear it?

Who knows when to say the hard things, when to wait for a better time, and/or when to just pray, even if it is persistent and unrelenting prayer, knowing God hears and God is at work in the seen and unseen lives of His children?

Who tells you things to encourage you but doesn’t tell you things that are false just to avoid conflict?

Whose words can you trust, knowing there is no deceit in them?

Who will never belittle you or mock you to cover their own sin or actions that hurt another?

With whom do you feel confident to be who God created you to be, how He made you, and who are are – unafraid and trusting?

For the one or ones whose name(s) comes to mind, give God thanks not just right now, but continually and pray for them without ceasing!

Then ask yourself: who do you or can you love in these same ways, dying to self, for the glory of God and the good of another?

Who can you love not just in words but in actions, directly and indirectly, of all kinds?

The last questions are the ones we should constantly be considering – especially in light of those to whom we speak those words.

God defines love.

God is love.

Love is part of the very character of God, not as the world defines love, but as He is!

We only love because God first loved us. (I John 4:19)

Our love for others is to a reflection of that – not a love of self, but a giving up of self.

May we seek and choose to love as God has loved us, giving Himself for us.

May we seek and choose to love as He has defined it, not by feelings or how it benefits us, but by choosing and pursuing the good of another over our own good.

May we seek and choose to love not just with words or actions that can be seen but in ways that are unseen, in dying to self and intentionally living out the love we proclaim for Christ and others.

We will be transformed…and so will those we love!