individual love

This morning while getting ready for work the Lord spoke something that got my guard up, and I questioned whether it was Him indeed that spoke to me. The conversation began, “I have loved no one like I love you.” Though I know my Lord loves me, I wouldn’t expect Him to exalt His love of me over another. “How can this be?” I blurted out in disbelief. Then the Lord gave me understanding, and a lesson I want to share with you.
“I love you with an individual love. It takes on a personality of its own,” He continued. He brought to mind the passage of scripture wherein Jesus comforts His disciples by saying, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions (some translations say “rooms”)” (Jn 14:2). Jesus further states that He is going there to prepare a place for us. God’s individual love for us contains an individual preparation for each one of us. Sometimes we think we should all be in one big room, but God had created us each unique, with differing needs and callings. He has preserved His purpose for our uniqueness in combining various different parts (people) all into one body. Each person has his or her own calling, and works appointed to them individually, even before the world began. And so, God loves us like He loves no one else, not because we are more special to Him, but because His love is fitted to whom He created us to be.
The next scripture the Lord brought to mind was 2 Cor 10:12, which speaks about “measuring” ourselves against each other. The Lord told me that we cannot look at another Christian’s life and think we know how much God loves them, for we don’t know His plan for them. If it appears that they have more favor, we might think He loves them more than us. By comparing our lives with the lives of others we “err”. God puts into each one of our lives what He does because He loves us. We have to allow Him to treat us each as individuals and not be offended if our brother seems to be getting ahead of us.
As a parent, I have loved each of my children like no other, for they are unique and each one is special in his or her own way. In the past I have found fault with the way I showed love, not treating all my children the same. Now I see that we shouldn't expect our heavenly Father to treat us the same either, and that we can only know His love for us on an individual basis, one-on-one. He designed us that way.