Sunday, August 13, 2017

Giving ourselves to God

Matthew 22:19-21 (NIV): Giving ourselves to God
19[The religious leaders] brought [Jesus] a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then Jesus said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
While my family and I were driving the other day, my daughter was curious about a song that was playing, “Love Bug” by Raffi. Her question stemmed from the following lyrics:
Everybody’s got a love bug, deep inside.
Everybody’s got a love bug for their own.
Love bug — where the hugs come from.
She asked, “What is a ‘love bug,’ Daddy?”
And I formulated an imperfect answer about God’s presence in each of us. “A ‘love bug,’ sweetie, is God’s spirit working in us. God’s spirit lives in our hearts and gives us the ability to love others,” I said.
We are made in God’s image and likeness. And it is no mystery that we were created to be vessels of God’s love. But there is a choice we must all make, and Jesus reminds us of that crucial choice in the above passage. Like the Roman denarius that bore Caesar’s image, Jesus likens us to coins of great value. The image that we bear, however, is that of God. And although it is our free choice, we are called to be ambassadors of God’s love.
In a very real way we all contain God’s “love bug” inside of us. We bear his image, and as Christians, we are privileged by grace to offer ourselves to God through the love, hope, and mercy we offer to others.
I pray that God’s holy “love bug” branches out of us to everyone with whom we come in contact. Let our lives reflect the loving image of God in all we do. Amen.
Have a blessed week!

Stan

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