God's love...

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

As I begin this personal journey and study into the fruits of the Spirit, I am forced to start as one should... at the beginning. All of love begins with God, as does all of everything. So we must first look to how He loves, and attempt to grasp the truth of that.

The issue, however, is that we cannot understand His love. His love does not pamper us, it perfects us (Heb 12:6). His love is one of redemptive power. His love is perfect and eternal. His love is infinite. We, as finite beings, cannot possibly grasp the infinite truths that exist within the Kingdom of Heaven...at least, not yet. But let me put it this way: no matter what you ever do wrong, even when all of those wrong things are added together, God still loves you more and more and more without ceasing or stopping... MORE AND MORE!!!

As humans, we flippantly throw "love" at ridiculous things like TVs and celebrities and cakes and flavors and cooking utensils, etc. We say it like it is just another small part of our existence. But answer me this question: if we are to attempt to live like Christ, and Christ is God, and God is love, and His love is all the things described above (all true, by the way), then why would we throw it around so casually?

To understand and truly see anything, I must first take it apart and see the inner workings of it. I don't know anyone who would love me enough to give their child as a sacrifice on my behalf. That is love. And if you use that term for your next frosted pastry or television program, perhaps you should consider what it means from God's perspective.

Take time today to think about how you say you love things... we all need to, myself especially. It's the same thing as putting yourself in the right frame of mind before you pray. Think about it before you throw the word around like a tennis ball. And if we all begin to use it properly, I am willing to bet that we all will know greater and greater, true and deep, abiding love!

God bless you all!!!