After the Sunday evening service we were returning home with our little three-year old grandson. Quitta had just said; “He got a lot of hugs and hugged a lot of people.” There was a moment or two of silence after which the three-year old said: “Grandmother; How do you hug God?”
Sometimes the super-simplicity of a child’s thinking brings a complete principle home. He had spent a day in which there were lessons on loving God. He was impressed by this. He knew that people hugged him because they love him. He hugs people because he loves them. He loves God because his teachers have pointed out what God has done for us and because God loves him. Therefore, it was natural to wonder, “How can I show God that I love him?” This is a worthwhile question for us all to consider.
We live in a decade that has been characterized as spawning the “My generation.” We are in love with things and we want those things to be “our things.” Our generation says; “If a rule or commandment interferes with what we want to do, I will ignore it.” We say we love God because of his bounty, but we will not allow him to interfere with our will or what we want to do. We would like to be able to give him a hug and say, “See you again soon!”
Jesus said in John 14:15 “If ye love me; keep my commandments.” Then in John 14:23 he said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.”
With Christ it was a simple matter, He is observing by the way we live our lives if we love him.
HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR GOD LATELY?