Perfect Love

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman’, because she was taken from ‘man’.” – Genesis 2:22-23

The story of God’s love for His people – a love so great that He sent His Son to die for us – is the greatest love story ever told. Check out Romans 5:8: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” While we were still sinners. Guilty of every kind of evil, our souls black and tarnished…and God sent His perfect, blameless Son for us.

But Jesus did more than just save us from our sin. He exposed our hearts – all the secret shame we keep hidden – and taught us how to love. No matter what kind of relationship we’re dealing with – friend, parent, teacher, coworker, lover – we find that relationship’s perfect example in Christ Jesus. The love that He exemplified for us “has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first” (1 John 4 18-19). Did you catch that? We believe in love because Christ loved us – perfectly – first.

When a husband and wife imitate that perfect love that Jesus showed us, we say they’re soul mates. A couple grows in to that kind of relationship by living, learning, working, laughing, and crying together. Jesus calls you into the same relationship. He calls you to grow with Him, and to let Him fill you with His perfect love.

Prayer: Show me the worth and weight of true love found only in you, and when I am tempted to believe otherwise, remind me of what you did on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. Amen.