But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws. Exodus 20:6, GNT

 

But God has shown us how much he loves us — it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! Romans 5:8, GNT

 

Defining love, whether as a verb or a noun, is not easy. It may be described as a feeling of deep affection, fondness, enjoyment, tenderness, delight in someone or something or the highest form of care, among many other things. All of these are part of the picture, but still not the definite meaning of love as we all have our own idea of what is meant by all of the former definitions.

 

What looks like abundant love to one person may look like not nearly enough to someone else. The value that each of us attaches to the idea of love has much to do with where, how and who we grew up with, the country we live in and many other factors. The one thing about love that we all agree about is that it should be good for us.

 

When we think about God’s love for us, we have our own idea of what it means. We cannot dictate to other people how they should experience it, but fortunately, we do have multiple examples in the Bible about what Paul calls God’s great love for us. (Ephesians 2:4)

 

We may see the Ten Commandments as very strict and difficult to observe. We may even try to avoid them. If we look closely, there are few places in the Bible where God’s love is so clearly spelled out as in the words as found in Exodus 20:6. In contrast with God’s warning that the consequences of sin will be felt down to the third and fourth generations of people who hate him, he promised his love to the thousandth generation for those who keep his commandments. Our sometimes very short-lived love is simply incomparable to God's never-ending love.

 

This never-ending love is best illustrated in the following words from Romans 5:8: “it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!”

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, your love for us is inconceivably great. We thank you, even if we do not fully understand it, we know it is so. Amen.