A Week Of Examining God's Love

The world is bombarding us with the word "love" this week. We should buy this jewelry if we love her. If we love him, we'll do and make all these fancy things. And don't forget the card, flowers and chocolates because ... well, because.

The overwhelming feeling is that Tuesday will be the only day we can show our true love how we really feel. Everything from the past 364 days doesn't matter anymore because this is the day to pour our hearts out, and then we wait until next February to do it up big again.

That's why it's such a relief to read about true love, God's love, in Scripture. God's love doesn't hinge on remembering a certain holiday or buying the largest stuffed animal known to man. God's love isn't a purchase or a requirement determined by the calendar. It's about passing on what we've already been given.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

When we were so obsessed with our sin and our feelings and our emotions, when we were guilty and broken and undeserving, God loved us. He loved you. To show how giant that love was and how deep it ran in His heart, God gave us the life of His own Son. We were undeserving, but He loved us anyway. We were more interested in loving ourselves, but still God loved us enough to give us a way to find Him and fellowship with Him.

This kind of love is hard to fathom. Human love has stipulations and conditions. It flashes like a fire, it runs out, it gets mishandled and it fades away. We could all tell a broken-heart story that would bring the room to tears because we've all been there. People have disappointed us, and that gives us a jaded view of love.

But God's love is different. While we were yet sinners, dirty and unworthy, His love ran deep and pure. It wasn't until we gave Him our hearts that we understood what true love meant.

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

We have no love to give - no real love - until we receive it from God Himself. He gave His Son to die on the cross for us out of the deepest love we could ever imagine. That love now lives in our hearts, and that's the love He now wants us to give to everyone around us. The only reason we have a desire to love is because we've felt that love for ourselves. The only desire of our hearts to love is that we have been given the most perfect love ever imagined.

This love doesn't come with balloons and streamers but with peace and joy. Make this a week of examining the love God has placed in your heart. As He so loved you, how many people can you pass it along to? God's kind of love never runs out - it multiplies as you give it away.

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