Divine Love

It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5: 7-8

This is the good news of God’s love for us. Unlike the love the world preaches, divine love is inscrutable. It reaches a level of sacrifice that the human mind cannot understand:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

It is so multi-dimensional that for us to be able to begin to grasp it we need to be, ourselves, planted in its very core:

“I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” 

Ephesians 3:17-19

We need to be in a deep knowledge of God to know what love is, because

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4: 8

The good news is that, regardless of the riddle that true biblical love is, God, in all His mercy, gives us ways to get glimpses of how this little thing called love works. In my case, I have to look no further than to my own life as a Mother to get close to a small window into God’s love for us.

I love my sons dearly. I would gladly give my life so they can live. I would go without so they can have what they need. I would limit myself so they can reach a limitless potential. But, even in all my extravagant love for them, I don’t give them all they want. And the reason I don’t, is because I know better. As parents, we work on trying to shape the good characters of our children. We want to spoil them, but deep inside we know that is not good for the development of who they will be when they grow up. It is hard to deny them the things they want, but we do because we know better things are in store for them if they wait or if they let us do things our way and in our timing.

Take my son Dylan, for example. His latest obsession is the Rubik’s cube. He discovered the wonders of that colorful, shifting-squares, 1980s icon about a month ago. He is REALLY good at it. He mastered it in no time. But, in doing so, he, we, also discovered that the iconic toy has morphed into dozens of different versions, and of course, Dylan wants to collect them all!

We were so excited about him being able to solve it, that we let him buy a few more with his money and I bought him another one when he ran out of his own cash. But, he kept wanting to buy more and more and more. We finally made a deal, that we could think about buying more for his birthday as long as he could solve all those he already has. What has happened is that he has been hard at work trying to figure out how to solve them, and now is able to solve 3 different types (one of which is brilliantly complicated, if I may add). The result: he has become quite the sensation at school.

I believe, Dylan is ripping far greater benefits by mastering the puzzles he already has than by giving in into his wishes and desire to accumulate for the sake of merely collecting.

Our relationship with our children is a pale reflection of our relationship with Our Heavenly Father, but it serves as a tangible example that our finite and material minds can actually grasp.

The doubts and fears and lack of trust we feel when we perceive God’s silence or negative responses to our demands and petitions as distance, neglect or lack of love from His part toward us should dissipate once we remember that He knows better. He is the ultimate Good, Good Father. He knows what He is doing, and all He does works out together for the good and benefit of those whom He loves: you and me. We need not doubt His power, His goodness or above all, His love. He is working in us a far greater future than we can even begin to imagine. He is making us new!