Sometimes you never know how God will speak to you... When I opened the wrapper of a Dove chocolate the other day, this is what I read:
"All you really need is love, and a little chocolate doesn't hurt."
The saying in this wrapper perplexed me. I know I have been wrestling with "praying for a husband"... But this little chocolate wrapper struck a chord in my heart and left me digging deeper into my mind and heart.
Over the past several weeks, even before the encounter of this wrapper, my noodley mind brought me in another direction to verses that I haven't thought of in a while.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. or now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. ~1 Corinthians 13:4-13~
These verses are a wonderful verses. (And what part of God's Word is not wonderful?) Although these verses has been quoted gazillion of times in weddings, there is a deeper meaning beyond the love that we normally associated with these verses, which brings me to the next verses...
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.~John 3:16-17~
These verses were pivotal verses towards my acceptance of God and Jesus. Senior year of high school, I was going through a bought of depression and anxiety. Although I was young and had everything going for me (going to NC State that fall), I was left with the thought of, "What will my future hold next?" A friend at the time, who is a Christian, shared with me various verses on God's love, and the more I dwell of these key verses, the more I realize God is bigger than anything I can imagine. God is love. That summer, I started to read the Bible on my own but it was the fall of my freshmen year at NC State that I was challenged to read John and participate in many church-related activities. I became a Christian in October of 1998 (detailed testimony may come later...).
Over the many years of being a Christian, I am sometimes amazed by the depth of God's love, and both the simplicity and complexity of it. To throw in some Greek, there are three forms of love: agape (God's love), philia or phileo (brotherly love) and eros (love in sexual nature or romantic love). Agape love is probably the most mysterious of all the loves. It is the unconditional love of God towards us, a sacrificial love. Even Paul noted the mystery of the relationship between Christ and the church in the context of the love of a husband towards his wife in Ephesians 5:22. Christ loves the church... as a husband should love his wife.
There are many verses in Scripture that talks about God's love. However, not to over-analyze God's love, but simply put: God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and to take upon himself the sins of this world. And for it is by grace we are saved, through faith...(Ephesians 2:8).
Jesus, for a time, was separated from God when he took upon himself the sins of this world... Jesus even cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" And I think the realization of that reality of what Jesus was felt deep in my heart... yes, it is nice to know God will provide, God will clothes us, God will feed us... But God did more than just that. He gave His Son up for us. And through the miracles of God, Jesus was lifted up to be with the Father. It is beyond me why God did this. We didn't deserve it. God did it anyway to renew the covenant, the promise, with His people, to take back what was lost, and to give us the faith in him, hope in him, and the love in him, that Jesus will come back some day.
All I really need is to dwell in the love of the Lord. What more can I ask for?
