So, I was on the horns of a dilemma. What cookies to make and how to bake them? The answer came quickly – make them the way Mary Ann likes best. But why? Why should I give up my preferences? My rights? What I know to be best? The answer is really simple.
Love. Love wants the best for the other person. Love accepts the other person. Love defers what we want and willingly does what the other person wants.
And that leads us to hope. You see, if I just did what I wanted, then there’s very little hope for myself or our relationship. But because of love, I deeply desire to do what pleases the other person. And that gives us lots of hope.
Could it be the same as our relationship with God? I don’t think He’s looking for us to reluctantly or resentfully to do what He wants. He’s looking for us to respond to his loving us. Giving us life. Saving us. And this response says something like this.
Dear God. You are love. You love me. You made me. You died for me. So, I want to respond to your love through a soft heart that loves you in return. Doing what you tell me to do.
Now, that kind of response sure fills me with hope. I know that it will do the same for you.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:16
This article on sugar cookie hope originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
