"...All for love's sake became poor"

This evening my daughter, Annabelle, wanted to sleep out in the living room on our "new" couch...

... that would be the one I found this past weekend at a thrift store with beautifully retro fabric, absolutely no signs of wear-n-tear and a price tag no one could refuse...

One of the benefits of being out in the living room is of course her close proximity to where our dog, Bandit, spends his evening hours.

At one point I had gone out there and noticed he had finessed his way up onto the couch with her. I gently reminded her that he wasn't allowed on the couch. (I know, I'm so mean)

A couple hours later, when it was time for his final nighttime "outing", I strained to see in the pitch blackness of the room, but I could tell she was no longer on the couch. She was in fact on the living room floor.

The hardwood floor.

The uncomfortable hardwood floor.

The dirty and uncomfortable hardwood floor... right next to Bandit's pillow.

Sunday morning we sang the song, "Here I am to Worship" and this image of my sweet girl laying on the floor to be close to her puppy reminded me of the lyric from the song that reads,

King of all days
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in Heaven above
Humbly You came
To the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor.

What a truly simple example of what love does. When we weren't able to be with God because of our sin, He came to us. He left his rightful and glorious place to be with us on this dirty and uncomfortable world.

And what an equally simple reminder of what our obedience as Christ's followers should look like. I can guarantee you, Annabelle didn't even give a second thought to what she was giving up in order to be close to her dog. It only made sense that if she couldn't bring him to where she was, she would go to where he was.

1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
      Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Luke 6:20-36

And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.