LOVING CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER

I Thess. 2:7-8 As apostles of Christ we certainily had a right to make some demands of you, but we were as gentle among you as a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too.

I really like Paul's imagery here. There is nothing like a loving mother who watches over her children and ministers to their needs. A mother feeds her children what is good for them at each stage of their lives. Babies require baby food, not junk food. As a child grows older, mom weans her child off of baby food and gives her children solid food. She knows that she has to be discerning as to what kind of food she makes available to them as much as possible. As they get older, they will want more junk food than is good for them and mom tries to control their intake as much as possible. Mothers do what they know is best for her children because she loves them and wants what is best for them. She wants to see them grow up to be healthy adults someday.

We should be like the Apostle Paul in this regard. We, too, should have a real interest in the spiritual growth of God's children. We should want to see each other grow up into spiritual maturity, useful servants in the Kingdom of God. It is not an easy task to do because, like growing children, we don't often know what we need and what we shouldn't have. We have much to learn about ourselves and how to become who God wants us to be.

Let us strive to love each other as we are loved by God. Let us set aside our personal agendas and seek the spiritual well-being on one another. Let us take a real interest in the spiritual maturity of others and share with one another God's Good News every chance we can. Let us be a people who are willing to do whatever it takes to help one another become the people God wants us to be, a people after His own heart.