The apostle Paul calls us to embark on an adventure of exploring the vastness of the love of Christ, with the mission of knowing something that is ultimately unknowable (Eph. 3:18-19). Not that we can’t know love truly, but that we will never know it fully.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love…
(Galatians 5:22, NKJV)

Did you ever see one of those novelty items with the entire text of the Lord’s Prayer engraved on a pinhead? I’m not sure what the value of such miniaturization is but it is a curiosity. Of more value is the Lord’s Prayer engraved on our hearts, not to be repeated by rote but to serve as prompts to prayer in communion with the living God.

Inscribing the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin is nothing compared to the challenge of covering the Bible’s teaching on love in a couple blogs. Love permeates the pages of Scripture. Love encapsulates the entirety of the law of God (Matt. 22:36-40). Love is both the essence and the expression of redemption.

The apostle Paul calls us to embark on an adventure of exploring the vastness of the love of Christ, with the mission of knowing something that is ultimately unknowable (Eph. 3:18-19). Not that we can’t know love truly, but that we will never know it fully.

Learning love is part of the core curriculum for the disciple of Jesus Christ. The reference 3:16 deals with love both in John’s Gospel and in his first epistle. In both instances our eyes are directed to God to orient us to the nature of love.

In John 3:16 our Lord speaks of a gospel message that proceeds from love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God did not give His Son because we were lovely or lovable. He set His love on those soiled in sin and deserving His wrath, and sent His Son to suffer that wrath in our stead.

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