Real Love

Martin Luther writes in the final thesis of the Heidelberg Disputation (1518):

"The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it."

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On our own, we are lowly, wicked and disgusting. It is of the utmost importance we realize that we are diseased with depravity, and ultimately, we are unlovely.

The truth is...God loves us. Nevertheless, God does not love us because of anything good we have done. God does not love us because we are lovely. God loves us, because He chooses to love us out of pure grace. For given our sinful state, we are completely undeserving. God's love for us is completely independent of us. If it was dependent on us, we would be in trouble. In fact, he has every reason and right to condemn us to an eternity in wrath. Yet he chooses not to. In short, God's love is completely due to his perfect, holy and merciful character.

God is Love. He chooses to love that which is unlovely. Thus, Love is a choice. May we love to love God for himself.

The world tells us what is lovely, and thus, what we should love. But, Jesus demonstrated on the cross what REAL LOVE was, to love the unlovely.

By His grace, may we seek to love others, not because of their apparent loveliness, but because He first loved us.

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"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

(1 John 3:16 ESV)