Mom Always Liked You Best!

If you are not too young, you probably remember the comedy/musical team named     the Smothers Brothers.  While they are known for many things, both musical and comedic, they will always be remembered for brother Tom’s frequent comment to Dick that, “Mom always liked you best!”

Recently, my 38-year old son got married for the first time.  My wife and I are blessed with two sons, just 3-years apart in age.  Our older son and family are living in Europe and couldn’t make the wedding.  Up to and through the wedding event my wife and I thought about how much we love our sons, and also how different they are.  We have always been sensitive to the possibility that one might think we love the other best.  That continues from childhood through adulthood.

John 15:12 reveals the words of Jesus, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  However, don’t people tend to love some family or friends “best” over others?  How can we love everyone the same?

In focusing all my love and emotion on our son who recently married, it raised the question, “Do I love one son more that the other?”  After all, they are very different, so is it normal to love one more than the other?  And all my friends are each very different, do I love some more than others?  Aren’t some “best friends”?

Wait a minute, I thought.  God loves all those He created just the same.  He created each one of us different than all the others. The numbers of us He has created is staggering.  His family is a lot larger than my small family.  What can I learn from this?  We all are His creations and any disappointment we have been to Him has been due to our sinful nature.  And guess what, we are forgiven when we turn to him.  He sent “His Word & Son”, Jesus, to communicate and reinforce His love and forgiveness of us.

So how does this apply to my consideration of whether I love one son more than the other?  Do their differences just guide me to love them each just the same, but in different ways? Isn’t that how God loves each of us, according to our differences from each other? 

In I-Corinthians 12:18-20,22, St. Paul reminds us: “¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be?²⁰As it is, there are many members, yet one body.’²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

We must be like our Father, God, and love each and everyone the same according to the differences of each.  I love my two sons just the same in the beauty of their differences.  And so it should be with all of our family, our friends and acquaintances, and those we will meet in the future. 

If there are differences in some that we don’t like, we must put our judgment aside and love that person from the inside out, letting God work His way in that relationship.