Happy Valentine's Day

I had completely forgotten that today was Valentine's Day until I saw Google's logo bedecked with, of all things, a chocolate-dipped strawberry. Thinking that "Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Day" was definitely a holiday to celebrate, I then noticed that it was a reference to Valentine's Day. So, in celebration of that holiday (although, I believe a much inferior reason to celebrate than my original idea), here is an essay about love that I wrote a while back.

God Loves Us

Today I was reading 1 John 4. Some texts require lots of exegesis to study, such as the beginning point of the 2300 days or the identity of the king of the North in Daniel 11:36-39. But some questions in the Bible are answered pretty simply and directly.

Q: Who loves us? How do we know we are loved?
A: 1 John 4:9–
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Q:Why should we love God?
A:1 John 4:18–
"We love him, because he first loved us."

It’s a pretty short study. There are probably 50 more points we can get out of the brief passage, each of them as important as eternity and just as comforting, too. But in this frantic, unloving world everyone needs to be presented with at least this information, right here; whether or not they choose to believe and embrace it or to rationalize it away and ignore it is their choice. But the simple statement–"He first loved us," means everything if you choose to believe it. Imagine, just imagine, being loved by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! Looking outside at the world around us and knowing that it’s a gift to us from God, a token of His love. Everbody wants to be loved. And everybody knows that when a man is in love with a woman he will not give up easily but will do anything he can to try to win her love–cards, flowers, dates, sweet expressions of affection and assurance that he cares about her. Think how much farther God has gone to provide expression of His love for us–all the gifts of the natural world, and much more, the gift of Jesus to provide a way that He can be with us and us with Him, despite the gulf that exists now. That really is love.

Does your god love you?