Adoration flows both ways

How important is it to you to know, absolutely know, that you are loved?

A few samplings of answers....

"Love is the great mystery. Love is pure and simple as an infant's smile. Love is vast and unfathomable as the far reaches of the universe. Love is the force that connects us and that breathes life into all things. Love is the silent invisible tidal wave washing through the consciousness of humanity, awakening us to who we are and why we are here. We were love at birth and love is who we are becoming. Love lives in the magnificent house of wisdom and truth. So, love your enemies. Do not condone their actions; simply invite them into the house of truth and wisdom, offering healing to their souls. Embrace and ride the tidal."

Dan Walker of St. Louis writes "Somebody once sang the phrase “Love makes the world go round.” Although it’s not a verse in the Bible, it’s true. Now the love that really makes the world go round, the love that created the earth and put the stars in space, is God’s love. The Bible says that God is love. Since God is love and He created people in His own image, then love is at the heart of every human being. Without love, our world won’t go round, it will come to a screeching halt. Everybody instinctively knows that is inside themselves. That’s why most of the songs on the radio are about relationships and love of one kind or another."

And a man named Paul wrote "1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Look at it this way: An automobile is still an automobile without gasoline in it. But it can not move properly without gas. Oh sure, we can push the vehicle. But for it to run smoothly, without problems for us, it must have gas.

Love is that way. We can live lives through to our deaths without it. We can even be somewhat productive without it in our lives, succeeding enough to build our bank accounts and our resumes.

But as Paul says: "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." To me that says the better way is to love. Love so deeply you sweat love. Love so completely the person you're loving completes you, makes you a better person, makes you who God meant for you to be.

Ultimately, of course, God's love is the most important and meaningful and complete of all types of love.

John wrote, "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Get that? Love comes from God.

My dear songwriter friend Rich Mullins once wrote that we didn't know what love was until He came, He being Jesus. I think that's right. I think till we saw what true sacrifice was, we didn't know what sacrifice was. I think till we saw what true love was, giving up one's life for a friend or even an enemy, we simply didn't know what true love was.

Now we do.

I believe that God adores each of us. Loves us enough to put our pictures on His gimungus refrigerator. He looks at your pic each morning and smiles a rosy sunrise. He looks at your pic in the evening after a long day's work of cleaning up our messes and smiles a purple sunset.

God adores you. He adores me. Nothing we've done enhances that love no matter how hard we try. He simply loves because, as John wrote, He IS LOVE.

Forget the judgment for a moment. Forget all those tales of going to Hell.

Wallow for just a second in the absolute adoration of God Almighty. Let the new day wash over you, refreshing you, giving you mercy and a new dose of love.

You don't have to please a human on earth. Not one. You don't have to run through hoops trying to make a boss like you, or a friend change his mind about you, or even a spouse love you more.

Why?

Because the being who controls it all absolutely adores you.

And what does adore mean?

"To regard with deep, often rapturous love." Rapturous love? The kind that takes you away, cuts off gravity so that you can sore up to the one who loves you most?

You are adored. Enjoy it today.