What is Love?

Love... A word that keeps surfacing in my life lately.  

I see it in my children’s picture bible as I catch sight of a depiction of Jesus hanging on the cross.  

I hear pleas for Love in those who speak of their pain.  

“Oh, to be truly loved,” the heart cries.  

I wonder just how deep love can reach and as I reach for the deepest that I can find, I realize I still have not found the depths.  

Love –as limitless as God. 

Love –as profound as He is. 

Love –wider than the widest ocean, vaster than the heavens.  

However much we open ourselves up to it, there is always more.

Love – the very expression of God.  

Do you really know Him?  

You might say yes, but have you tasted Him if you have not yet tasted love? 

For He has said, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) 

The more I peer into its depths, the more captivated I become.  

Could there be any greater, more awe-striking way for God to express Himself?

Take a walk through the starry night and hear a baby cry. Peer through the window and recognize that that helpless baby on that first Christmas night was a most humble expression of love.  

Look into His face as He sleeps peacefully in His mother’s arms. What a strange thing to realize that God Himself lies there so humbly, saying nothing, having restricted Himself to time, poverty, and the lowest means of making Himself visible –a baby born in a stable.  

What kind of King is this? What kind of love is being expressed? 

He subjects Himself to humanity.

He lowers Himself to limitations that you and I would avoid were we given the choice.  

He obeys earthly parents, though He Himself created them. 

He lives according to the laws and customs of His day, though He existed before they ever did. 

There is John the Baptist watching Jesus, the Son of God, step into the waters of baptism. He humbles Himself still further, allowing His forerunner –a mere human- to baptize Him who is God.  

Watch as He goes into the wilderness and fasts for forty days –feeling perhaps for the first time the effects of starvation on His body.  

The devil takes advantage of His weakness and tempts Him relentlessly. Love steps lower as He allows the devil to speak condescending words and feels their effects on His soul, yet never giving in. Yes, He knows what it is to be tempted and tried by a merciless devil. 

He lives day in and day out with humans who sin –sin which had shattered His original relationship with them in the garden. He invites them to follow Him closely, hardly ever getting a moment’s rest. 

He knows the aches of not having a comfortable place to sleep, for “the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”  

Watch as He humbles Himself even further, touching an outcast leper, who would make Him unclean. Jesus- the One who was never defiled by anything, daring to touch that which would defile Him. 

Does He wince? To our surprise, He takes joy in going lower still. (Philippians 2)

He gets on His knees and takes His holy hands to wash the filthy feet of His disciples. To our astonishment, He acts like a servant, though indeed He is the King of all Kings.  

He treats Judas, the disciple who would betray Him, as though he were His own, knowing full well what he would do.  

He listens to Peter’s big talk that does not match his actions and speaks life into him, proclaiming purpose even for his life. 

He welcomes John close to His side and whispers secrets in his ear.  

He calls His betrayer “friend”, even when he is about to kiss him with the kiss of betrayal.  

He surrenders Himself to His Father’s will –though it will be the most painful thing He has ever experienced.  

He gives Himself up to become sin for the whole world.  

He lays down His life so that we can have true, eternal life.  

He could call for ten thousand legions of angels to come to His rescue, but instead, He remains silent, knowing what joy lays ahead when He receives you and me as His own.  

He has everyone in mind, all the while having each one in mind.  

His resurrected life is now a life of intercession for us.  

He could be sitting on a throne forgetting about the pain He experienced on this earth, but instead, He constantly remembers it as He brings us who are suffering the pains of life on this earth before His Father in prayer. 

Love –can we define it? 

Perhaps the truest way to define it would be this: Love looks like Jesus. 

… 

My love is selfish. I want to know what I’m going to gain out of any sacrifice I make. 

But God? His love pursues and gives knowing that some may never respond to His love.

My love ebbs and flows, but His love is a continuous flow.  

My love grows weak and tired, but His love is always strong. 

My love gives sparingly, while His love gives without limit. 

My love is picky about where it will be spent, but His love will be spent on whoever is in its path. 

My love thinks only about me, but His love in me causes me to forget myself as it moves me towards others.

My love won’t risk it all on someone who might not appreciate it, but God’s love will.  

My love is merely human, while His love is heavenly. 

My love won’t speak the truth if it will make me look like a fool, while God’s love is bold enough to do so, no matter what it costs.  

My love is ordinary, but God’s love is extraordinary. 

My love looks like me, while God’s love looks like Jesus. 

…  

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us...” (1 John 4:10)

What a staggering statement.  

Love is most clearly expressed when there is no love being given back.  

Love is most shocking when it continues to give even as it is being rejected.  

Love stands out the most when those who hate us get nothing but love in return.  

Love is bewildering when it seeks out the person who causes pain so that you can befriend them.  

Love hushes people into silent awe when it goes where no one else will go and serves where no one else will serve.  

Love heals when it seeks out the hurt and forgotten ones to bind up their wounds.  

Love brings peace where there was only turmoil. 

Love covers the sin of the one it seeks to win with the grace and kindness of God. 

And you, my friend, could be the hands and feet of this love.

Will you offer to God yourself right now?   

As Darlene Deibler often prayed throughout her book, Evidence Not Seen: “Lord, I’m available.” 

Will you pray this prayer too?  

I am.

And I believe that if we do, we won’t regret it, for as Jesus showed us, there is joy to be found in laying down ourselves so another can experience the love and life of God.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, let us express thankfulness with our lives by giving our hands and feet to the One who desires to reveal His own love through us.