I Love You, Lord Jesus

“I love You, Lord Jesus…Look down from the sky…And stay by my side…Until morning is nigh” – Chorus from Away in a Manger. 

Love they say makes the world go round. More songs and poems have been written about love than just about any other subject. And yes – love is absolutely essential in our lives. From the moment we’re born until when we die. So … why is it that so many people don’t experience love in their lives? Real love – the sort that God talks about a lot. Saying the words “I love you” is easy, but do you love so deeply that you have absolutely no expectations of receiving something in return. We are talking about the kind of love that is unending; the type of love that is unmerited because it is not deserved and unconditional because it is not based on actions. We are talking about the kind of love that is supernatural because it is not something that can be done in your own strength. We are talking about the love of God. 

God loves you with unconditional love. To know God is to know love in its truest form because He is love. Love isn’t just something He gives. It isn’t just something that He feels. It is who He is. God’s love for you is limitless and has the power to set you free from every wound, thought, sin, and broken relationship that causes you to live anything less than a joyful and content life.

This unconditional love will inspire you to respond to others in the same way. The love of God is forever. It never runs out no matter how bad a day you are having or how far you wander away from Him. Jeremiah 31:3 says, “ Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

God’s love is sacrificial, leading to the point of death on the cross. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” ( John 3:16) The love of God is inseparable, it will be with us through thick and thin. We can’t run away from it. “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?…And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 35, 38-39) 

It is expansive, beyond what we can grasp or imagine. “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”  (Ephesians 3:18)

So how do we experience that love? There is only one way and that is Jesus. The love of God for me is there. And nothing can separate us from His love.

Discussion Questions: 

1. If you meditate on the depth of God’s love for you, how do you think it would change your perspectives? What keeps you from experiencing God’s love? 
2. This week, allow God’s love to renew within you a longing to spend more time with him. Rest in His presence. Spend time with your heavenly Father just letting Him love you.