L-O-V-E: Part 3
Have you seen any good love stories lately? The kind where the hero/ine moves mountains and overcomes all obstacles to be with the one he/she loves? Those are great to watch on the big screen because we get to live vicariously through the characters for a few hours. We get to experience the ups and downs of their romance and enjoy the ending where they live happily ever after.
Now, I know that men might not have the same feelings as women about chick flicks, but everyone is looking for someone to love them no matter what. That is why Hollywood makes so much money on those movies - they are capturing something that we all long to find.
As much as we love to see those "happily ever after" movies, they usually leave us with a little pang of envy. It doesn't matter how wonderful your spouse or significant other is, they cannot love you enough to fill up that hole inside you that is looking for perfect love because they are not perfect. We can't fill up that hole inside of our partner because we are not perfect, either. God has given us people in this world to partner with us and to love us, but they cannot completely fill up that space inside us that longs to be totally and completely loved .
We long to have someone love us so much that no matter how well they know us they will still love us without reservation or recriminations. That is hard to find here on earth.
God loves us that way, though. God loves us with total abandonment. God created each and every one of us, knows us inside and out, and still loves us enough to die on a cross for us. We are able to love only because God loved us first.
We don't have to look for a fairy tale romance to find true love in this world. We simply have to look to God who pursues us through all of creation to love us with a perfect love.
CS
"We love because God loved us first." - 1 John 4:19