A couple of decades ago, I read a book by Max Lucado depicting what it means for us to know love and it has stuck with me since then. He describes a conversation that occurs before creation to show that the cross was a voluntary, love driven decision.
The conversation says humanity won’t get it, they will turn away, they will inflict pain on each other and Jesus. The final conclusion is that without this sacrifice humans will not know love.
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12 NIV).
It is easy for me to put conditions on love. I want others to deserve my love, to live up to my expectations first. I want to be treated with respect to respond with love. This is what God expected of us humans. He knew without the unconditional sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the ultimate expression of love that we would never know the true depth of love. The dialogue Max Lucado created helps me get closer to understanding the power of the cross. It humbles me and invites me to live out love for others in pursuit of that depth of love.
Do you know love at that depth? How has the cross spurred you to love more fully? Share your story here and breathe life and bring hope to others.