― Blaise Pascal, Pensées
I'm pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say that we all have a desire to love and be loved. And not just any kind of love....unconditional love. A love with conditions isn't really love...is it? I want someone who is going to love me no matter what. Someone who can look at me with all my faults and imperfections and still show me mercy and compassion. Someone who even when I am screaming "Get out of my life! There is someone else!" still comes running after me, pleading with me to stay. Someone who is willing to go to any means necessary to show me how much they love me. As much as my husband loves me, he can't love me like that. My mother is probably the only person who could get even close to that kind of love; for a mother's love is strong, but it would still come up short. Why? Why can't people give this kind of love? Because every single human being on this earth is imperfect. How can imperfect people give perfect love? They can't. "As for God, his way is perfect " (Psalm 18:30) God can love me perfectly because He is perfect. He can love me the way my soul needs to be loved. His love can satisfy me completely, leaving me wanting nothing. Blaise Pascal hits the nail on the head again when he states, "Only the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love, and of comfort, a God Who fills the soul and the heart of those whom He possesses, a God Who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and His infinite mercy, Who unites Himself to their inmost soul, Who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, Who renders them incapable of any other end than Himself. Jesus Christ is the end of all, and the center to which all tends."
We all think we know what love is....but do we really? We most certainly have our own definitions of what we think love is. But in 1 John 4:8-9 it states "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. "
The definition of "real" is : actually existing or happening : not imaginary: not fake, false, or artificial: important and deserving to be regarded or treated in a serious way : of or relating to fixed, permanent, or immovable things. So, God's love is happening right here, right now. God's love is not made up, it's not pretend, it's not fake. God's love is important and should be taken seriously. God's love is fixed on you, it was made permanent on the cross and it's incapable of being moved or changed by anything; your failures, your mistakes, the things you did wrong on purpose, your addictions, your good deeds, your church attendance, your doubts, your past, your present, your future. Paul confirms this in Romans 8:38-39 "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Also, if you're like me, stop thinking that Christ is only going to love the future, better you. He loves you right now! His word says "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." ( Romans 5:8 ) Real love is personified in Jesus Christ. "God is love." (1 John 4:16 ) " For God SO LOVED the world, that He GAVE his only son." ( John 3:16 ) "...So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." ( Galatians 2:20 ) Jesus' love is reckless; it's different than anything else you've ever experienced and it's the only love that can truly satisfy you like you are longing for. If you're honest with yourself, you know that even the people you care about the most still disappoint you, hurt you, and come up short on offering you the kind of love and affection you desire and are expecting. And that's ok! They were never meant to be able to! Our relationships here on earth with our friends, family, and spouses are just a tiny glimpse of the measure of love that Christ has for us! His love knows no end. His love is not based on emotion, or whether or not you love Him back. His love is unconditional and unselfish. He lavishes it on us even when we don't give him anything in return. Like, how crazy is that?! How many of you would just keep on loving and serving and caring and helping someone who doesn't even notice you most of the time or just flat out doesn't want anything to do with you?! The Bible talks about how anyone can love someone who loves them back, or be nice to someone who is nice to you ( Matthew 5 ); but can you love someone who hates you or be nice to someone who is a jerk to you? God does. He loves you and He loves me.
I am on a journey to find out more about this true, real love. I'm on a journey to get to know Jesus better and to cultivate deep roots in His love for me. You see, the more I let His all consuming, unfailing love satisfy the deepest parts of my heart, the more it overflows out of me and onto everyone else around me. He teaches me and enables me to love people like He does. " No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." ( 1 John 4:12 ) When God's people, love people God's way, God can be seen in us!! I hope this encourages you to go study God's love more. It is so much bigger and way more complex than the "Jesus Loves You" bumper sticker you see everywhere. I know you've probably heard John 3:16 a million times, but please go read it again and really soak it in!
Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesians and I am praying it for you tonight :
" When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." (Ephesians 3:14-19 )
Watch this video below and then watch it again and again if you need to. If you can even get a taste of this REAL love, you'll be changed forever. ♥
