Lent #36 - The Depth of Love

Love is an emotion - a feeling for many things - people - pets - possessions - homes - jewelry - sports - food - almost anything that one likes very much - often declared as loved. We tend to categorize these things into good - bad - acceptable - not acceptable and in each of  these categories - levels  of how much we like - dislike them.  For some things that we like very much - we declare our love for them.  In regards to people - we treat differently - different levels of being liked - disliked.  Before we can state our love for any individual - we process that information in a different way and when we finally decide to declare our love for another person - it becomes a matter not of emotion - rather an intentional decision to love them.  When we declare our love for a person - we state our love knowing full well their flaws.

When God created the world and all that is in it - He saw that it was good. He did not say he loved the things He made - in the instance of mankind - took a different turn - for people He stated His love. Love that knows no limits - no boundaries - always accepting - forgiving - a love that only God can possess - known as agape love - a love unknown by humans. That is the love that Jesus had for mankind - still has for each of us. For Jesus - God His Father - the depth of how deeply they love us - completely unknown by humans - a love that we will never posses. It is because of that agape love - Jesus could look down from the Cross - forgive them for what the were dong to Him. In Romans 5:7 we read "Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person - though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die".  Even as He was dying on the Cross - the last drops of blood flowing from His body - Jesus loved all of us - even those who rejected Him - even those who tortured Him - to a depth that we cannot imagine - He loved all - very deeply.  Coming towards the end of Lent - in our prayers - thoughts - a good idea for us to consider how much God loves us - wants us to be close to Him - wants us to cast aside our petty issues and love others as deeply as He  loves us.  With Jesus at your side - you can  do this.

Deacon Dale