I love God, my wife, my children, and my dog.

Love is such a vague word.

Surely, love for my dog—even being superior to other dogs—doesn’t equal my feelings for God, my wife, and my children.

All uses of the word love pale in the light of the love known in the garden. In its purest meaning, love never comes from me. It can only originate with God.

God is love and love is God. That sort of love is ultimate love. It is beyond both description and understanding. When Satan messed with the garden and introduced the fruit to know evil, it was no longer possible to know the depth of God-Love that existed in the garden. Love and evil, like God and evil cannot co-exist.

The real definition of love is what happened on the hill of the skull outside of Jerusalem.

The sacrifice on the hill was the greatest act of God since creation. By God taking on through his son the sins of the garden fall, it would be possible to restore God-Love to the garden.

The Apostle John defines God by defining love. The Apostle John defines love by defining God.  I need to let his words sink into my brain and my heart anew:

Love comes from God, God is love. 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. This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. We love because he first loved us.

Thanks to what transpired on a hill near Jerusalem over 2000 years ago, I begin to get a glimpse into God’s love.

A love that generous and that grand demands my response.

What are your reflections? Stay with me as I explore my response.