Love Flows Downward
(Matt 7:9-11)

May is Family Month. May is the month that parents are grateful to their children for being with them and children are grateful to their parents for their caring. The greatest present that God has given us is our parents. Thanks to our parents’ love, we survive and live a life in this world. Especially parents’ love is unconditional love that reflects God’s love.

1. Parents’ love
Parents’ love is unconditional and infinite love. Entire family should be grateful for their parents’ love and be united together with love. We should do our best to care and support our parents sincerely because they have loved us unconditionally. In the Ten Commandments, the first four commandments are instructions about how humans should relate to God. Commandments 5~10 are instructions about how humans should relate to others. Especially the first commandment about human says that “Always respect your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12).” Therefore we should support and respect our parents by obeying God’s commandment.

2. God’s love
God sent us our parents as presents, and let our parents love us unconditionally. The unconditional love is the love that God shows us. While we were yet sinners, God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). This shows God himself is love. We should be grateful to God for his infinite love that we cannot repay. We should also practice God’s love for humanity. Then, we will experience the grace of mutual indwelling that we abide in God and God abide in us.

3. Community of love
We became the children of God by believing in Jesus and being saved by God’s love. Thus, we should love each other in Jesus. We should be united by loving and caring each other to make our family and community to be built on love. Christians, as the children of God, should not fight each other no matter what happens. The Apostle Paul warned us by saying “You may destroy one another completely (Galatians 5:14-15).” Love and grace of God overflow in our society when we love each other in Jesus. God has forgiven us in Christ. Thus, we should also build a community of love by forgiving each other.