To know love is one of the great quests of mankind. We all want to be loved. To feel special, chosen, adored as a prized possession. One of the greatest desires placed within us by God is to be loved and have someone to love. Many search their whole life trying to fulfill this desire and never succeed because they are looking in the wrong places.
Ephesians 3:19 “And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
In 1958 there was a secular song written that said, “To Know Him Is To Love Him.” These words are so true. When someone is loveable the more you know them, the more you love them. However, it is not an instant thing, it takes time. Our love for one another must be cultivated, and the love we have for Christ must be cultivated. We must study and pray and get to know Him. But God doesn’t need time because he knew us before he formed us in the womb. He KNEW me and he loved me! Jerimiah 1:5 tells us he knew us before he formed us in the womb. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and yet he loves us anyway.
The love of Christ surpasses all other loves. In Romans 5:6-8, Paul gives us a glimpse of the kind of love Christ has for us.
Romans 5:6-8 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
When we could not help ourselves, when we were unlovable, when nothing about us was worthy to be loved, Christ loved us. The verses say that scarcely for a righteous or good man would some die. But, for us, an enemy of God, Jesus died. He demonstrated that love on the cross.
John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
To know this love, to feel it in our souls, to experience it in our hearts, is one of the highest privileges of the Christian. We need to let this sink into our souls. Meditate on this for a while until it consumes us. This kind of love surpasses all other loves. I’ve been married almost 48 years, and I can’t imagine living a day without the love of my husband. It makes me feel secure, needed, and wanted. It gives me a desire to please him, to want to show my love back to him. But, even the best of human love is fickle and selfish. We see all around us where people divorce because they don’t love their spouse anymore. Our love is tainted by sin. However, God’s love is perfect in every way. There will never be a time when he does not love us. God is love, and even though some choose to go to hell because they reject Jesus, he still loves them.
We can’t really understand this kind of love, but we can accept it, and allow it to change us. Nothing will excite gratitude in our hearts, or prompt us to live a life of service to God and our fellow man, like the knowledge of God’s love for us. Paul makes the statement that this kind of love surpasses knowledge. He was speaking with a heart that was so full it was overflowing. He wanted us to see that it is so vast that we cannot fully comprehend it. It is an infinite love, there is no end to it! It was a love that not only led him to the cross but also caused him to leave heaven. It caused him to become a man. The creator took on the life of the creation. He was reviled, persecuted, beaten, and rejected. He felt every emotion we could ever feel, and the most painful of all, His father turned his back on him. He became man so we could become Sons/Daughters of God!
This kind of love should change everything about us. We have a God who formed us, wants to live within us, walk with us through life, and carry us away in death to spend eternity with him.
So, when you feel weary, hurt, disturbed, or any other negative responses you can think of today, remember the love of God. It will never fail you. This life at best is short compared to eternity, but God’s love is forever.
He loves YOU, and the more you know Him, the more you will love Him, the more you love Him the more you will want to serve Him. Plus, the more you love him the more loveable you will become. It’s a win, win, life.
