Love

It’s the week of Valentine’s Day and I can’t lie I am the cheesiest cheese ball when it comes to romance. So, it’s only fitting I write to you about love.

When I was a young teen I remember loving the song “Love is Only a Feeling” by The Darkness. I was listening to it one day and my dad walked in. He listened for a few minutes and couldn’t help but scoff. He said to me, “love is so much more than a feeling. It’s an action, a choice…” I have never forgotten that encounter with my father. Even though in the moment I was miffed that he was totally killing my vibe, he taught me an incredible lesson that day and planted a seed in my heart and mind that has done nothing but grow.

Love is shown perfectly by God, The Creator of all things. When He crafted the universe, made humans and placed them in said universe, gave them dominion over the land and animals and hung out with them it was all done out of love. When humans choose to be their own gods and authority figures instead of God, He pursued them out of love with a plan to send Love to earth to save His beloved. The entire Bible is packed with this perfect love. It’s incredible how it talks about God SHOWING His love and the Actions He took to love us all while we turned away from Him. If we want to know what love looks like we should look at the creator of it. If we want to model how we love after someone it should be THE One who does it perfectly – rather than that TV show that, while entertaining, has no clue the sacrifice and patients true love takes.

A well known verse that gets quoted often is from the gospel of John, chapter  3 verse 16 which says: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God so LOVED. He looked upon our sin and shame, darkness and brokenness and loved.

Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says: but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God loves us in so many ways. From knitting us together in our mother’s wombs and seeing the days ahead of us (the book of Psalms chapter 139 verses 13 through 16) to giving everything on earth a place to live and be sheltered (the book of Psalms chapter 104).

I am going to challenge you right now to go read Psalm chapters 104 and 139. While you read chapter 104 meditate on how God has created a system that works in which everyone is provided for. Not even wild animals escape His sight and provision. Think about His power and might within it all. Then as you read chapter 139 think about the intimacy that comes with the relationship of creation and creator. Have you ever felt completely alone and forgotten? This verse lays out how intimately and closely known you are. Consider what it means to be faithful to God in thought and action.

Happy February dear reader, know you are truly, perfectly, hugely loved. Not just with feelings but actions, sacrifice and redemption.