Love is in the air!

It was a Facebook post put up by one of my former pupils.  The message was simple.  On a background of a rather vicious-looking cat, were the words: "If you're sad about being alone on Valentine's Day, just remember ... ... no-one loves you on the other days of the year, either"!

I "Liked" it - and then thought about it!  The songwriter assured us that it is love that makes the world go round.  There are more songs, and poems, written with love as their subject than on any other topic.  It's the theme of countless books and films.  It's the glue that holds society together.

How sad it would be, therefore, not to be loved at all - throughout the year!   Thankfully, that post has it completely wrong.  Every single one of us is loved, throughout our whole life.  I'm not, of course, referring to the Mills & Boon kind of soppy, sentimental 'love'.  I'm not even referring to the love of family and friends.  I'm referring to the love that is better described by the Greek word "agape".  It is nothing more, or less, than the love of Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is.   That love is directed towards each and every one of us.

It's a sacrificial love.  In what may well be the best-known quotation from the Bible, John records that "God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16).  The sinless, incarnate God, allowed Himself to be hung on a Roman cross, in order that He might pay the just penalty for your sins, and for mine!  That is sacrifice; that is love.

It's an unconditional love.  "... God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." writes Paul to the believers in Rome. (Rom 5:8).  God didn't set out conditions that we must meet in order to be loved by Him.  He simply loved, and loves, us - as we are!

It's an eternal love.  Eternity is greatly misunderstood by so many.  That's why I devote a full chapter to the concept in my book "Great Words of the Faith" (please see above!).  It is often viewed as 'endless time' when, in fact, it is timelessness!  The love of God is not constrained by time.  It is above and beyond time.

There are many other aspects of the Love of God that we could consider - but this is a blog post, not a sermon!  Just one question to ask - Do you know that love of God at a personal level?  Is it real to you, because you have responded to it with the love of your own heart?   If not, then why don't you do something about it now!  His love is so great that He will meet you more than half-way.

Don't be unloved - when the greatest love of all is reaching out to you!