LOVE

Here are some little known facts about love:

If you google the word "love" the first thing that comes up is the wikipedia definition of love (which features a picture of Romeo and Juliet) the second thing is a "Love Calculator" boasting the tag line "Calculates the chance on a successful relationship between two people" (How that can be determined by a computer is beyond me) and after that, videos by Nat King Cole and John Lennon (how they got paired up, no one will ever know) and finally a fashion blog boasting that you will "love" the new Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garcons fashions (that I don't doubt).

But what struck me as odd was that not once on the first page of "love" being googled did any kind of biblical reference come up. There were obscure pictures and videos, love poetry and finally, to wrap it up, a free love test.But if one were searching google for what love is, I think a true meaning of it would be hard to find. I think Foreigner had it right with their 1984 power ballad "I Want to Know What Love Is". I don't think they ever figured it out.

I think love is well demonstrated in the old testament. Start with Abraham in Genesis 22. Abraham loved God so much that he didn't really question it when God told him to take his only son up to the mountains in Moriah and offer him up to God as a burnt offering. I think that Abraham knew God's love for HIM and trusted him completely that he knew that God was testing him. And that was a test which Abraham passed with flying colors.

Take Jacob next. He served Laban for 7 years just to marry his beautiful daughter Rachel. The bible tells us in Genesis 29 that Jacob "served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her." (verse 20). That's a pretty strong love that Jacob showed.

But the best example is the unconditional love that God has for us, his children. We were created in His image (Genesis 1:27), we were created to BE LIKE GOD. That means that no matter what we do as people of this earth, no matter what kind of mistakes we make or how badly we screw things up, God loves us. God loves you. He sent His only Son to die on the cross because of the love that He has for his children. That's love. And Jesus took the pain and the suffering because He loves us too. He hung on that cross to take away our sins. So why is it that we, as humans, make things so complicated for ourselves?

One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is Psalm 103:12 because it's so plain and makes so much sense. "As far as the east is from the west,So far has He removed our transgressions from us." Think of that for a minute. Do the east and the west ever touch? Never. That means that as soon as we ask for forgiveness, God's love comes into our lives and removes that sin so far from us that we'll never touch it again. That's what that scripture says. But as humans, we start to think about it, and reason things out in our heads... that's where the trouble comes in. If we have faith like children, just believing everything at face value, then we'll take this verse to heart and BELIEVE that God's love will cover everything and anything.