Humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation, and His most valued treasure. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).
In Psalm 139, King David illustrated God’s intimate concern, and love for us as individuals. He wrote, “O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord” (Psalm 139:1-4). In verse thirteen, David states, “For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” We were created by God with the intention to have a relationship with Him.
But He didn’t stop there. When humanity continued to stumble and fall, God took it upon Himself to humbly exemplify His desire for us to live righteously through His incarnate presence in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion and love for humanity by living a life of servitude; helping the less fortunate, healing sickness, blindness and the crippled, and even restoring life to the dead (Matthew 11:5). Then, He ultimately paid the debt humanity could not pay by sacrificing Himself as the atonement for our sins. We talk about going to the ends of the earth for someone we love, but God took the notion further by literally going to the ends of the universe to redeem mankind.
John’s gospel tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). John 3:16 informs us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When I consider the detestable contemplations of the human heart, its capability to dishonor and cultivate hate, premeditate murder, commit adultery and rebel against our Creator, and realize that His desire is that humanity spend eternity with Him, where, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4), I am deeply humbled. Rather than retribution God offers redemption. That is true love.
Love is much more than the absence of bitterness or the antonym of apathy. Our modern cultural understanding of love falls far short of the altruistic compassion of Christ; seeing others as God sees them, not just faces in the crowd or from a selfish perspective, but with true empathy and compassion.
Love in Language
The English language can never do justice to the love that Christ exhibited by taking our place on the cross. In the Greek language, there are seven words for love, and the ancient Greeks would be shocked with our cavalier attitude in using the word “love” so indiscriminately. The seven Greek renditions used to describe love include: Storge – affection for family, often taken for granted; Eros – for passionate romantic desire, where the word “erotic” is derived; Philia – for deep friendship or comaraderie; Ludus – for playful love; Pragma – or long-lasting love; Philautia – or the love of self; and Agape – a pure, willful, sacrificial love, or the love for all people.
Agape love is the most radical and selfless love. C.S. Lewis referred to it as “gift love,” the highest form of Christian love. Agape love is empathetic love, caring for strangers or unconditional, altruistic love. Agape love isn’t sentimental. It is love that comes from God. Agape love is part of God’s character, and it is an outpouring of who He is. God is Love (1 John 4:8). John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” And yet Christ did more. The apostle Paul put it this way, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The apostle Paul expounded on the virtues of Christian living in the thirteenth chapter of His first letter to the church at Corinth, in what is a popular, though misapplied, text at many weddings. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
When we contemplate Paul’s words in the context they were intended, we see that he is speaking about agape love; the altruistic, selfless, unconditional, empathetic, complete love for everyone that will lead you to lay down your life for your enemies; the agape love that Christ exemplified and extends to us. If we truly love God, we will make every effort not to sin against Him. We will honor Him and revere Him. As the betrothed bride of Christ, we will forsake all others and remain faithful to Him.
It’s All About Love
When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He answered by saying, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:17b-19, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Paul tells us that God’s love for us is so complete, complex and eternally infinite, that we cannot even fathom the extent of His affection for us. We cannot escape it! God is love! He loves us to such an extreme that He did not spare His one and only son. Jesus loved with such totality that He willingly died on the cross for us.
In the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul explains the relationship between love and action, and God’s initiation of that love. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). As the Alpha, He made the first move, knowing we were incapable.
The moment we come to terms with this concept on a personal level, we cannot help but surrender our hearts to Christ. 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because He first loved us.” This is what God desires.
God made mankind in His own image. His amazing love for humanity is reflected in His patience, allowing the weeds to grow with the wheat until the time of the harvest. What some see as injustice, is in truth, a demonstration of God’s immeasurable love. He waits. He tolerates. He wants as many people as possible to come to him in repentance.
While the world watches it may seem as if evil goes unpunished and God is silent. 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Love is patient.
The love of God transcends time, space and realms. It touches the hearts of each and every one of us. In fact, our very capacity to love can only be attributed to God Himself. It is only through love that mankind can claim any goodness whatsoever and it is only through love that we have any hope at all. God’s love is the impetus that drives humanity. The engine of life is the love of an Almighty God, who is love personified in Jesus Christ. Indeed, God is love and love reigns supreme.
