This Is Love – May 10, 2021

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10

This Is Love

People want to know what love is. Teenagers want to know if their strong feelings for another person are puppy love, infatuation, or the real thing. People who have been burned in relationships wonder whether they were ever actually in love. On one day, the memes about love resonate, and the next day they ring hollow.

Do you want to know what real love is? Take a look at the attitudes and actions of God.

God loves you. He wants you to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. He is committed to the best for you. He knows the real you, the times you have disappointed him. He knows your weaknesses and failings. That doesn’t stop him from loving you.

While you were still a sinner, Jesus died for you. His death was a sacrifice because he didn’t have to do it. The Son of God could have continued living in glory for eternity. Instead, he took on a human body and a human soul, then suffered hell so that you wouldn’t have to. He let that body and soul separate in death, paying the complete price for your sins.

Some people want the best for you and are committed to you, but no one else has done what God has done for you. Even your gratitude and love for God are not the best example of love.

This is love: God loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Now you know what love is. But people don’t just want to know love. They want to experience it. In Jesus, you have experienced it, and you can heal from every harmful human relationship that has fallen short of perfect love.

Prayer:
Jesus, you are all compassion, pure love without boundaries. Enter my trembling heart and make me confident in your continuous perfect love. Amen.