God Loves you Bro
Since the fall of man, the definition of love has become warped and eroded. The bar is extremely low, loosely defined with sayings like “love is love” - anything you want it to be. This type of love is sweet in the moment but leaves an unpleasant taste over time. Such is any reference point of love that is anchored to this world.
Our personal experiences often contaminate our idea of how love looks like. Where can an understanding of love be found within a broken family, or outside the club or amid unceasing conflict? For some, we even allow ourselves to stay in an unhealthy situation because we’ve convinced ourselves that some love is better than no love.
Understanding the type of love God has for us helps us to realise that as sons and daughters of the King, we shouldn’t settle for anything less. God, who is love (1 John 4:8), is our sole reference point. While man’s love fails, God’s love abides. While man’s love is picky and indecisive, God’s love confidently falls on us. It can’t be earned or lost, It’s a perfect, persistent love. He is the definition and the source. To increase in love, we must increase in God. (1 John 4:16)
The Greek language has many words for love, from “Philia”, meaning brotherly love, to “Eros”, meaning sexual/ romantic love. But the word that is used to describe Jesus’ love for us is “Agape” – sacrificial love. This type of love is selfless. It expresses the fact that God is deeply invested and concerned over our lives, not only as a matter of words but reflected through his actions.
“But God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8
Love is demonstrable. A false idea of love today within modern relationships is that this can sometimes look toxic. Toxic relationships are the antithesis of selfless; they induce insecurities and dilute love to just a vibe and aesthetic.
No other being in all creation has experienced God’s love in the way we do. Our perspective of God’s love is unique to all of creation. While the angels worship at the feet of his holiness (Rev 4:8) and creation sings of his glory (ps 19:1), we experience a dimension of his love that was poured out to us on the Cross of Calvary, where he looked towards our freedom from the shackles of sin and death and bridged the gap for his lost sheep to cross over into his care.
The more we know God, the more we understand how bottomless the pit of his love is (Rms 8:38-39). In seeking him wholeheartedly, we find ourselves stumbling into this pit, head first. Drenched in his love, we can’t help but say:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found
Leaves the ninety-nine
