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Such love!


We have never experienced love that is comparable to God's. Human love is conditional. 

Unattractive people are hard to love. Even though it was my first visit, the lady at the post office counter greeted me with a very friendly smile. I visited that town after 30 long years. She acted as if she is meeting a friend, but her appearance scared me so that I did not greet her or smile back. The left side of her face was charred, and she had lost the left eye. Her gums and teeth were visible since the left portion of her lips were burnt too. Her smile was frightening. 

A young man, envious of her relationship with another person, threw sulfuric acid at her face, disfiguring her. As a result, her real lover abandoned her since she was no longer as beautiful as she was before the accident. It turned out that we were friends at school thirty years ago, which explains her friendly smile. At school, I remember her as a vibrant and winsome girl. One of the conditions we set for people to deserve our love is their physical attractiveness.

A morally acceptable behavior is also a requirement for our love. Criminals, muggers, women who sell their bodies for a living - who will love them? She is not even beloved by her own customers, even if they hire her body for the evening.

We tend not to love people who are not useful despite their physical beauty and moral uprightness. My friend is an engineer who moved with his family to another country to find a better life. His preferred job was not available. He became a burden to his family since he was dependent on his wife and daughter, who were the only earners in the family. Therefore, the wife turned hostile, the daughter joined in, and they conspired to send him back to his country of origin. As soon as he landed, they revoked his visa, so he cannot return. His wife and daughter live in the land of promise while he lives on charity. Her marriage vow of love was only valid if he helped her.

God's love, however, differs from ours. God loves those who are unlovable by human standards or even by his own standards–sinners. God loves us even if we do not love ourselves!

 

The cross is the greatest display of God's love. The Bible says that "in this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him"’ (1 John 4:9).

The love of God does not have any conditions, so he loves everyone regardless of their appearance, their purpose, or how useless they are. In Romans 5:8, Saint Paul addresses this aspect of God's love. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In other words. "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…." (Eph 2:4).

The love of God is unparalleled, unsurpassed, and all-surpassing. It has not been fully explained or understood. Christ's love "surpasses knowledge" (Eph 3:19), according to Paul. God's love is self-initiated, without riders. John the apostle of love, declares in a note of jubilation: "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Most importantly, it is not outdated, but it is still relevant today. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5-6). Even though the King James Version translates all the verbs in a sentence to align them with the past tense – “freed us” and “made us.” The Greek uses the present tense, as in, “loves us,” currently.

In the first century, the present reality of God's love was relevant to the communities suffering persecution for their faith in Christ. They need to know that Christ still loves them. God does not abandon Christians when they go through pain. They suffer, but God's love is not diminished. Yet God continues to love them despite everything. Love from God is a reality now. God gives us this assurance even when we find it difficult to love ourselves.

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