The Greatest Lover In The Universe

The Greatest Lover In The Universe

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. –1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We live in a world full of lonely people searching for love. And we don’t have to look very far to see intense longing for love—perhaps only as far as the mirror. Neither does it take much searching to find the disappointment insufficient lovers leave behind. We want to love and be loved on a grand scale, yet we are bound by our self-centered tendencies and embittered by broken promises and unmet expectations. Can we ever expect to experience love that will never disappoint, never fade, and never leave?

If a human kiss and the rush of romance is the highest and most satisfying love we can ever expect to know, we are indeed doomed to disappointment, because no human can ever love us fully, completely, faithfully. How many times must our hearts be broken to learn that lesson?

Our brokenheartedness keeps us looking for a grander, surer love. But instead of continuing to look around, we must look up. There we see Jesus, the greatest lover in the universe. He shows us exactly what love looks like. Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus does not demand his own way. Jesus is not irritable, and he keeps no record of when he has been wronged. Jesus is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Jesus never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Jesus is not like a human lover who grows weary of our idiosyncrasies. Jesus is patient. Jesus will not bring up our failures of the past and use them against us. He forgives and forgets our sins, casting them away as far as the east is from the west. Jesus will never fail to defend those he loves. Out of his love for us and his hate for evil, he will take up our case and will one day set everything right. Do you think Jesus will give up on you, release his grip on you, and walk away from you? Absolutely not. That’s not what Love does.

Lover of my soul, I can’t love in the way that you do, but neither can I resist your love. Use even my disappointment in those who fail in loving me well to draw me into the love you so graciously want to shower on me.

DIGGING DEEPER