What a cliché statement! It is so utterly overused that I feel it has lost almost all meaning in today's society. You see it and hear it everywhere.
It is so often connected with Jesus's death on the cross that I have found, even in my own life, that His love for me appears to be an action by itself. We emphasize love being an action, and neglect the fact that it is also and just as much so, an emotion.
When people say "Jesus loves you so much that He died for you!" it registers with me subconsciously not that He feels moved by me, not that He desires to be with me so much that He would do anything to be with me, not that He is blessed by my presence, not that I am more precious to Him than anything else in creation, but that He simply practiced an action which was habitual to Him because of who He is. When people say He loves me I think that He does stuff for me.
But think of this: marriage was designed to imitate and create a picture of our relationship with Christ. So think of a man who is utterly, insatiably, in love. Think of how he gazes at his wife and loves everything about her. He knows the little, tiny, insignificant facts about her and is crazy about them for no other reason than that he loves her. He knows her little quirks and smiles at them. He sees her little habits and chuckles at how cute they are. He looks at her and just purely loves. He loves her. No strings attached. He just loves her. That's all. For everything; despite everything.
That's a very small, unsatisfactory, inadequate allegory of how Christ loves us. He is moved by us. He longs for our presence. He sees the tiny, insignificant little facts about our personalities and smiles because He created us like that.
Knowing this changes the way we view ourselves in relation to sin and guilt and shame and grace. For example, I miss my quiet times often. I feel guilt and shame, subconsciously thinking that God is disappointed in me. But in view of the way God loves me, I know that He is not disappointed but in fact just longing to be with me. That is all. We can view grace differently in view of this because then we know that He forgives and pardons us not just because He is good and gracious, but also and just as much so because He loves us so much He wants to look past our sins just to be with us.
I got a revelation of all this today as I was cleaning my room while listening to classical music. I had discovered a book on my shelf in the middle of putting something away and got distracted and sat on the floor and started reading it. There I was, in my pajamas on my floor reading a book while in the middle of cleaning my room. And listening to classical music. And Jesus said, "I love that. I love how you just randomly sit in the middle of your floor and read even though you're busy doing something else. I love that you listen to classical music even though no one else does. I love how you love to read so much that you'll read more than one book at a time. I love your insatiable curiosity. I made you like that. I love you."
Woah.
How different and more beautiful is His love than what we think it to be!
I love you, Jesus.
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