Are you looking for love? Do you think you are unlovable? Is there someone you wish would show love to you? Do you realize that God loves? Do you say that isn’t enough?
We all desire love. We may hide our desire. We may lie to ourselves, telling ourselves we don’t need love. We may think infatuation is love. Our human minds and hearts can be fooled when infatuation comes into the picture.
We hear song after song played on the radio about love. They cover all facets of our human view of love. The majority of them are about the emotion of love and the related emotions such as infatuation, lust, admiration, affection, passion, and more.
In our churches, we sing songs of God’s love. We hear contemporary Christian artists sing of God’s love. We hear old-time gospel groups sing of God’s love. And still we look for love, failing to understand just how much we are loved by God.
We may not fully understand God’s love for us until the day we meet Him face-to-face. Yet we can gain a better understanding by studying Him. This is not a simple reading of God’s Word, but spending time meditating on His Word, thinking about what is stated, and asking God to reveal the depth of His love for us.
As a parent, I have spent time thinking about God sending His one and only Son to die for me. Have you thought about that? I have one son. Personally, I cannot imagine knowingly sending my son to his death. It is simply hard to fathom. Yet that is what God did for us.
I know, I know, some of you will say, “Yeah, He did that. But He also knew He was going to raise Him on the third day.” True. And He also knew His Son was going to be brutally flogged. He knew His Son was going to suffer mental anguish over being falsely accused and being convicted by a rigged trial. He knew His Son would be mocked, spit on, and laughed at. Would you knowingly put your only son through such humiliation?
Jesus was and is fully God. He was also fully human when He walked this earth. His suffering was no different than our suffering. He loved us enough to go through the worst that humanity could throw at Him for us. He loved us that much and more.
I pray we all come to a better appreciation of God’s love for us. I pray we meditate on His love. I pray each of us return God’s love, loving Him from our hearts. Know that God loves you. Understand the depths of God’s love. Love God in return.
1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Marty Pressey 