Heavenly Love

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person 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. Romans 5:6-8 NIV

Devotion

Recently, our youngest daughter got married. She came into this world 24 years ago, just 13 minutes behind her twin sister. The twins had three older siblings, which meant by the time they arrived, we had some pretty tight rules about dating and the bar was high. But 1,277 days after her last first date, we gave our baby girl away. “Love” was in the air. As far as days go, it was nearly picture perfect.

As I soaked in everything going on around me, I couldn’t help but think about how my understanding of love has changed throughout my 50+ years on this earth. There was a long season in my life where I associated love with my feelings. It is human nature to “love” things we find attractive and to feel “loved” when we get our way. Quite honestly, culture has done a really good job of selling love as something that feels good; and if it doesn’t feel good, it must not be love.

That definition of love, though, does not hold up when we examine it through the lens of Scripture. One thing is true: life, at some point, gets messy and throws a curveball, and love does not always feel good.

I’ll never forget when I first heard love defined in a biblical way and it changed everything for me, “Love is to consistently will the good of another.” That kind of love is a heavenly love. This biblical definition is illuminated when held up to the lens of Scripture.

God’s love is a holy love. It is perfect. It is a love that seeks and desires to make us whole. It is a love that wills your good. In the beginning, God created a perfect world, and he created you for a perfect, loving relationship with him. God loves you, and he created you to love him above all else. It didn’t take us long to make a mess of that, though. But God loves you so much that he sent his son, Jesus, to reconcile you to himself. Through this, your relationship with him can be restored.

You see, God’s holy love is a love that makes distinctions between what is good and useful and what is bad and harmful for his children. What a beautiful thing that is! Holy love will not give out on you, it won’t give up on you, and it won’t give in to you. God’s love is inexhaustible, even when you are exhausted. God’s love perseveres. When you wander and struggle, God’s love wills your good.

Jesus is God’s perfect love in flesh. From a tax collector to a prostitute to a persecutor of his church, the love of Jesus made distinctions and willed the good of every person he encountered in his thirty-three years on this earth. God’s desire and his plan is for every single person to know and experience this love. That’s why Jesus, when asked what the greatest commandment is, answered in this way: “‘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’” (Matthew 22:37-39). You are God’s plan for carrying his holy and perfect love to the corners of the earth.

Loving others isn’t always easy, is it? This kind of love isn’t a feeling, but a choice that flows from something much bigger than us. The Message translation does a beautiful job of describing this in 1 John 4, “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God … My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other … But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!...This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit … God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us … First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.”

You don’t love because you’re a good person or because you’ve tried really hard. The only way we’re capable of a heavenly love is to know and understand that we were loved first.

PRAYER

Father, I bow before you today asking that you would reveal to each and every person reading this the depth of love you have for them. Let them know and believe you love them with an everlasting love that desires to make them whole. Let it be your love that flows through us. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Kim Gilliam
Associate Pastor - Crossings Mayfair

Kim Gilliam serves families of all ages and stages of life as they find and follow Jesus.

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