Love Requires Paying Attention

​     Loving our families and other people requires paying attention. It is an all too common of a scene. A couple sits at the breakfast table. One spouse, let’s say the husband is immersed in the newspaper, while the wife is pouring out her heart. Frustrated, she finally complains, “You are not looking at me and you are not listening to me. You are not paying attention!” Maybe in the evening when husband comes home and flips on the TV, his wife or children want to talk about the day, but his ears and eyes are tuned into the TV.  His wife, son or daughter finally complains, “You are not looking at me and you are not listening to me. You are not paying attention!” 
     You want to have a better marriage, better communication with your children, or with your parents; you want to be the best Christian you can be, than live in God’s love.     Living in God’s love means you will listen and it is not just a casual listening to what God says. It’s the kind of listening that says, “I want to hear what you have to say,” type of listening. The Apostle John writes to the believers and tenderly says, Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18). Love shows. Love cannot be hidden – you see it. There are all kinds of things Satan uses to distract us, but when we love as God loves us, we will stay on track. 

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Clark Tatum