Read Ephesians 1-4

CARE . . . Listen . . . Pray  

"Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us . . . .God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family . . . . and it gave him great pleasure."     Ephesians 1:4-6(NLT)

Reflect

What images do the words “adoption” and “family” evoke in you? As an adoptive parent I have a special vantage point from which to imagine what God’s heart toward us might be. Adopted children are planned, chosen, delighted in before they are ever met.    Knowing nothing about the children in advance, the adoptive parent loves that child already. It’s an irrevocable love, one that can’t be removed even in the worst of circumstances.  

This is a glimpse of how God loves you. When you “get” this it changes everything. You discover that you matter to the Father who, through the largest price ever paid, His Son on a cross, adopted you.
 
There is a very big step to take before you can effectively love another person. It is this step. It is believing  you are loved. Once you “get” this, the knowledge that you are secure in your Father’s love,   then there is the possibility that your life can be spent in loving others as the Father has loved you. You can grow up to the point where others matter more to you than yourself.
 
Now you are free to care, to listen, to pray for others with nothing in it for you. But when you do, you gain the world.