We recently asked on our Instagram about which Bible verses on love are the most striking to our community. Our American culture focuses a lot on love: how to gain it, who to give it to, and where it comes from. We pour time and effort into self-help books to make ourselves easier to love, or skincare routines that take precious moments away from bedtime, simply to try and find a way to make ourselves more eye-catching and acquire more attention. However, when the end of the day rolls around and the house is a mess, there are dishes stacked in the sink, and someone left a damp towel crumpled on the bathroom floor… again… it can be hard to feel love.
Friend, I want to encourage you to look at God’s love. His grace, power, mercy, and compassion are constantly searching for us. His love for us draws us close to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jeremiah 24, the prophet Jeremiah predicts the exile of the Israelites from Jerusalem. Then, God gave them hope, saying, “My eyes will watch over them for their good… I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (verses 6-7). When life is constantly throwing twists and turns, and each day seems more difficult to get up out of bed, the Lord is there. He is holding out his presence in the midst of difficulty, calling to His followers and asking them to trust in Him.
God’s love encompasses our most difficult moments; the times when we feel unloved and unworthy. It reminds me of a prayer in Ephesians that Paul wrote to encourage his followers in the city of Ephesus: a place of persecution and both cultural and religious plurality. Ephesians 3:17-18 says, “17…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” It is through the powerful love that Christ demonstrated for us that we understand just how much we are cherished by the Lord and just how much He wants for us to be with Him and delight in Him forever.
Despite our growing pile of laundry, God’s love is wider.
Despite our never-ending daily routine, God’s love is longer.
Despite our stacks of dirty dishes, God’s love is higher.
Despite our pain and hurt, God’s love is deeper.
Through all of the hectic days of our lives, God holds out His hands to us and calls us to be His beloved, cherished people. He wants to establish us, plant us, and root us in his love, just as Paul and Jeremiah wrote, and furthermore, he wants to remind his children of His overwhelmingly vast love.
