How long does love last? Will it last to the end? Do you wonder where love is? Have you experienced a deep, committed love? Are you looking for a love that will never end? Do you know there is an everlasting love available to you?
We all look for love. We long for someone that will care for us forever. Unfortunately, in some cases, lasting love is being replaced by a temporary and fleeting love. In fact, it may simply be momentary lust rather than love that people settle for.
Yet there is an everlasting love for all of us. It sounds cliché when we hear it. But clichés have developed from truth. It is when we dig deeper into the cliché that we discover the original truth behind the cliché. When we discover the truth, the cliché is no longer a flippant saying for us, it becomes a meaningful truth that we hold on to.
As Jesus was approaching the end of His time on this earth in human form, He reflected on the short life He lived as one of us. One reflection was on the love He showed to those He spent time with. He especially reflected on the love He had for His closest friends and disciples. He knew that He loved them to the very end.
The good news for us is that He loves us to the end as well. He won’t stop loving us, nor will the Father. We may not have His physical arms wrapped around us, but His love is wrapped around us. When His love becomes more to us than intellectual knowledge, we find peace that goes beyond understanding.
The love of Jesus includes His willingness to die for us. But that isn’t all it included. He lived for us! He experienced life just as we do. He was tempted. He argued with Satan. He obeyed political leaders. He reprimanded religious leaders. He corrected erroneous teachings. Jesus knows from personal experience what we are going through. Having left heaven to spend a life on earth, He showed His love for us and has become our perfect mediator before the Father.
We often hear or say, “been there, done that.” Jesus has as well. His love understands what we are going through. His love is His motivation to continue to care for us. Jesus loves us now and will continue to love us until this world passes away and we join Him in heaven.
I pray we all discover the truth behind the cliché of everlasting love. I pray we recognize the love Jesus has for us. I pray each one of us will accept His love into our lives. Know that Jesus loves you. Accept His love. Realize He will love you forever. Experience His everlasting love.
John 13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Marty Pressey 