God IS Love

God is Love. What a place to begin! What a space to live our lives within. Best of all, in love, our final destination is eternity with Him. I think that a human’s greatest desire is to be loved and love others. Years ago, when I was a foster parent, the social worker told me that the most important thing I could do for the child was to love her so that she, in turn, would learn to love herself and others. Love is required for a fulfilling life. We bear the image of God, and the essence of His image is love.

While our hearts experience love, the love we have for our family, friends, acquaintances and those around the world we have never even met, is but a shadow, a glimmer, a spark of the eternal source of love. The Bible describes God’s love as immeasurable, beyond imagination, and unfathomable. God’s love is pure and powerful. God’s love seeks us out in the depths and the heights of our circumstances. God’s love results in him seeking out the 1 who has gone astray amid the 9,999,999,999. Love is at the core of God’s being. He cannot be anything less than love. He cannot fall out of love with us or behave unlovingly toward us. We cannot gain his love, we cannot lose his love. God loves eternally at 100+. 

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit commune in perfect love and harmony. Yet, at some moment before the beginning of time, God decided to share his love, grow his love, and experience his love with humans. Love was the motivating factor for our creation. In love, God spoke the universe into existence. Out of love, God created the earth for us to enjoy and fellowship with him. In love, God formed humans, marked us with his image, and breathed his eternal Spirit into our souls.

When we severed ties with God, when we lost our way, when sin detoured us, lied to us and caused so much pain and despair– God’s love stepped in. This is true love: God sent his Son to reconcile us with the Father. This kind of love, I cannot comprehend. The pain of offering up my child would be too much for me to bear. Yet, when a sacrificial love was necessary, Christ willingly complied.  

In our fallen world, I pray that God transforms us from the inside out so that his love becomes our driving force. Sin has wreaked havoc with our souls. Perhaps we are ruled by greed, addiction, selfishness, fear, depression, illness, anger. . .  And, the list goes on and on. Father, I thank you that you are LOVE. May your beacon of love shine in the core of my being and motivate my spirit. Light my path and guide my steps to present your love to the world.