How could we begin to quantify love? It is certainly an overused word, inserted into everyday language and used as a throw away statement. It can be used without any real feeling, "I love how you have decorated your house," "I love my new hairstyle," or when we sign off a letter, with "lots of love." Love has been devalued.
As we turn the pages of the Bible, we read the greatest love story ever written, about a God whose love for his children is unlimited and overwhelming. This theme is constant through the Bible, from the first verses in Genesis, when God created man and woman, through his continued love for his disobedient people Israel, until the ultimate sign of his love, when he sent his son Jesus. God's love continues to be displayed throughout Jesus' life.
Today's verse is a well known one in Christian circles, but stop a while and consider the meaning of such love in this verse.
God's ultimate act of love in sending his son was because of his deep love for the world, for each person in it, for me and you! In his every act and word Jesus' ministry displayed the perfect love of God. It pointed others towards God. It was a love that challenged, a love without limits, as Paul says in the Ephesians passage.
Jesus, the greatest teacher who ever lived, taught his first followers and us what should be the most important motivation for all we do in our lives.
Life is full of many decisions. Each decision we make will determine whether or not we show Christ's love. God desires us to spread the love of Christ in our lives to all with whom we come into contact, like a beautiful fragrance. Love should be, as Paul says, the root and foundation of our hearts. Like a house built on strong foundations, we will stand firm on God's love. Love will fill our lives and flow from them.
We will never understand the quantity of love God wants to pour out on us, but in seeking him, desiring and praying to know more of his love, we can in turn be greater and more powerful vessels of his love in a broken and hurting world.