Give at least five endings to the incomplete sentences, offering your own thoughts contrasting two children: one who believes he or she is loved and the other who does not.
A child who believes he or she is loved…
– “has confidence to go out into the world
– “knows they can come home and be themselves
– “feels capable of doing almost anything
– “loves others easily, though sometimes too trustingly
– “feels special and important”
A child who doesn’t believe he or she is loved…
– “lacks confidence to face the world
– “feels they must wear a false perfection, even at home
– “feels inadequate to facing new tasks
– “has trouble bonding with others emotionally
– “feels invisible and unimportant”
Now read John 15:9. Since we know God loves us unfailingly at all times, what do you think ‘abiding’ or ‘remaining’ in God’s love means?
“God’s love is unfailing and never leaves us, but we can allow ourselves to drift farther from God and not stay in close fellowship with Him.”
Dearest Rachel –
While you left most of the questions in this particular chapter unanswered (presumably, you were running out of time before you were to meet with your group, but you wanted to have something written down in order to contribute to the discussion), the items you filled in suggest more than a passing familiarity with the subject matter. I’m sure it would have pleased your folks no end, as your responses to how a loved child would feel seem quite familiar from your own behavior and attitudes. You even threw in a caveat regarding one line item, probably due to having been burnt later on in life by being “too trusting.”
I suppose it was bound to happen, as you were gentle and trusting as the lamb you were named for. Not everyone you encountered in life was necessarily worthy of that trust. But you made a point of erring on the side of faith rather than skepticism, and I’d like to think that you were rewarded for it – both on this side and the one you’re now on.
Likewise, you were never given over to false perfection. People got what they saw in you, and while you had your hidden depths (which I’m still finding as I go through your old studies, despite having lived with you at my side for nearly thirty years), you were much the same close up as far away. We can debate your parents’ status with regard to salvation all day (well, on this side of the veil, anyway – from your perspective, you already know one way or another), but there is no question that they loved you as well as human parents could, and you knew it. As such, describing what a child who knows love feels and does would come so naturally to you that completing this answer, despite being pressed for time, was easy for you to do. And while the opposite may have been a little more difficult, it was a simple matter of inverting the descriptions you had given before, et voilà! Another question sorted.
As for the love of God, you’ve said something similar several times before; it is constant and unfailing. If we feel distant from Him, we’re the ones who have moved. I wonder how it feels for you now, being in His physical presence in a way that we’re not able to over here; I wish you could describe it to me… to all of us.
But I suppose if we had such information, what we currently have with God wouldn’t be considered faith anymore, would it?
Letters to Rachel 