Undeserved Love

So, this coming Sunday is Valentine's Day. So I thought I'd write a note about the basis for Valentine's Day- love. I'm really getting stuck trying to figure out a good, funny (but not too funny, nor merely begging for laughs with some cheap joke) intro, so I'm just going to dive right in. Note that the love I am primarily addressing here is love between humans, which is in turn possible because of the love God has for us. I am not here attempting to write about this love God has for us, except in so much as it pertains to this unmerited gift of love.

Have you ever stopped to think about love? Have you ever wondered why we fallen humans can experience this divine thing? Love is not natural to fallen humanity; if you want proof, look at Genesis. Adam and Eve, the first two people, the two members of the first marriage, were in the garden, and although the Bible doesn't tell us much about life pre-fall, we have every reason to believe that Adam and Eve loved each other, living together in the truest form of wedded bliss. Then the Fall happened, and within minutes, hours at most, of this tragic event, Adam and Eve have fallen so far from this state of love that Adam's first reaction, when faced with the sin he committed, is to blame it on Eve. To have fallen so far, so fast, that instead of taking the blame for the person with whom he is literally "one flesh," he turns on her, attempting to divert the wrath of God from him to her... it boggles the mind. Love was natural for pre-fall humanity. Post-fall, love is unnatural, and every single instance of love in this fallen world is an example of grace straight from God.

We do not deserve this grace, this unmerited gift of God. We rejected the love of God in the garden, and in turn lost the natural ability and right to feel love ourselves. God chose to give us the ability to love again, the ability to feel a small portion of what He feels for us. 1 John tells us that love is from God, and that God is love. Because of this, I believe that when we love, we are being more like God than at any other time. Isn't that incredible? God gives us the ability to feel love and, in loving, be like Him. The next time you think about someone you love, whether it be a parent, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or just a good friend, think about that love for a minute. Remember that when we love, we are being like God. And thank Him for the opportunity to love.

This didn't exactly turn out how I had thought it would. Of all my notes and blog entries, it seems the most disjointed and unexplained. For this I apologize. I would love to clarify anything that is unclear, or discuss anything you think to be incorrect. Feel free to post a comment, whether you liked it or not.