Dilexit Deus mundum (Jn. 3:16)

John 3:16: "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".

L-O-V-E consists of four letters and one word that is really familiar and very close to our hearts.  How do you define love? People say that love is not only a noun but it is a verb. Maybe this true story taken from the Human of New York can define what love is.

There was a daughter who really admired her dad so much and described him as the best dad ever. He was a dad that everyone would like to have as their own dad. Someone who never complained, cooked for the family, never got mad, was always there for her, and much more. He was described by his daughter as the gentlest person in the world. He lived to be 96 years old and not once in his life did this daughter question that he was her father. The truth only came out after her dad's death, when her son decided to get a DNA test. Her mom cheated on his dad and got pregnant; that was her.  And that the dad had decided to forgive her mother. And to raise her as his daughter. And to take the secret to his grave, because he didn’t want to hurt his daughter. “This fact didn’t change my amazing childhood”, said the daughter. It didn’t change my relationship with my father furthermore, she said. Denise, her aunt, told her that she had been there when her parents came home from the hospital. She watched her father carry her in the house. And she said she’ll never forget the look on my dad's face. She’d never seen him so happy in his entire life.”

I think we see eye to eye that the man, the dad, has a gold heart as wide as ocean who can love and forgive. He has performed what love is. And I think there are so many other inspiring love stories that we have ever read, observed, and experienced in our daily life.  Love comes in some types; sexual love in couples/partners (eros), love as friends (philia), and familial love (storge).  Apart from these three types of love, there is another type of love. This type of love, agape, is the love of God to his people and the greatest love of all.  The love enables Him to keep loving us despite the fact that He knows that we will not always return His great love as much as He loves us.  His hope never dismisses for His people. One day these people, we, will receive His love and will return His love. He is not afraid of loving us. He does not choose an easy and comfortable thing for Him. He chooses to love us even though He is hurt and dies on the cross. 

How can someone experience this greatest love? There are four basic principles that can explain this. The first principle, God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. Second, but, why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life? Because man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life. Third, Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life. The fourth principle, it is not enough just to know these. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives. The moment you received Christ by faith, as an act of the will, many things happened, including the following: Christ came into your life, your sins were forgiven, you became a child of God, you received eternal life and you began the great adventure for which God created you.

What a true love that Jesus has for us; a love that gives us an abundance, a fulfilling and eternal life. This should be the anchor of our faith in our ups and downs and in our relationship with other people; the time when we feel that we are a failure, the time when we feel worried, the time when we are sinful, the time when we are in our peak of success, the time when things seem to be perfect and fine, the time when we are hurt and in deep pain, the time when we are in the battle, the time when our emotional needs are not fulfilled, the time when we are misunderstood, the time when we are underestimated, the time when we are betrayed, the time when we are hopeless, the time when we are tied up with things, and in many more occasions.

Shall we faithfully keep loving God and other people on every occasion of our life? 

“Take me deeper, deeper in love with You. Deeper than I've ever been before. I just want to love You more and more”. This lyric of a song should resonate with our deepest prayer and long to keep our eyes to the prize; to this mission.

By Deisyi, Indonesia.