"GOOGLE" LOVE

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The essence of our lives is to “LOVE GOD" and "LOVE OTHERS.” There isn’t much else and God boils it down to those two things, strongly implying that everything in life is governed by two simple commands.

But we haphazardly throw around the word ‘love’ today.
We love our cars …
We love our homes …
We love fish …
We love going on cruises …
We love holidays …
We love ice cream …

But Jesus isn’t confused about the word love. He is very clear when He says: “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Now if we are going to be like Christ who gave EVERYTHING out of love for us, then why aren’t Christ-followers known as the greatest lovers in the world?

God calls us to care about who and what and HE cares about. So, who are you showing the breadth of God’s love to? Is it to those who are ‘less valuable’ in the eyes of the world? Is it to the helpless or the weak? Or do you show love for people and things that have the power to do something for you – to give back to you in some way? Because no one is out of bounds for love. The whole world belongs to God; so it’s not hard to figure out who to love. We love whoever God loves – and that is everyone.

"GOOGLE" is the homepage of CHOICE at the moment in America. "GOOGLE’s" success is based on sending people away from its website, not toward it. "GOOGLE" relinquishes control and empowers others. In other words, "GOOGLE" lets go. That is risky, especially for a company trying to make money, yet "GOOGLE" has become one of the greatest success stories in the history of business.

The testimony of Scripture is this: if you let go and give your heart away and risk loving, your heart WILL break. And what is the greatest symbol of a broken heart? It is the cross. There on that piece of wood, Jesus defeated principalities and powers. How did He DO that? He gave up CONTROL – He risked loving – He gave Himself away – bowing to death. And in this supreme act of love, He sacrificed Himself and overcame the forces of darkness so we could be free.

When your child tries to describe how much he loves you, it is common for him to say, “Daddy, I love you THIS much!” and as he says that, he spreads his arms out as WIDE as they can go. Jesus was laid on the cross. He hung between heaven and earth – and with His arms stretched out wide, He seemed to be communicating – even with His posture: “I love you ... THIS ... much,” as if His arms were reaching out further and further until they encircled all of creation in this passionate embrace.

There is no off-season for love. God’s love has no limits. This is a love that stops at nothing to give of itself unselfishly and irrevocably. No road is too long or too difficult for this love to travel. The real test of love is the depth to which it will go. God in Christ not only came down from heaven to the level of humanity, but far, far deeper. He came down into the ugliness and shame of our most horrible sin right into the pit and the mire to rescue us. And when you stand looking at the cross, there is something that assures you, not only that those two arms stretched outward to embrace the entire world, but also that the shaft of it reaches down deep to every humble creature who ever breathed.

God loves because it is His nature to love. He can’t STOP loving. And what must He think when He looks at us … those silly, foolish humans – unclean, selfish, disobedient, irreverent – but … ‘Oh, I love them SOOOO much,' He says. And that is the depth of the love of God.

I John 4:16, 19 – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him … we love because He first loved us.”

Got LOVE? If not, "GOOGLE" it.
And be blessed.