A Prophecy of Love

How we act depends greatly upon how we think, or what we believe. Having a mind that can believe and that has freewill begs the questions; what shall we believe? How did we become believers? And what is the purpose of believing? These questions might be addressed in a shallow way, simply by claiming it is the nature of human beings; it is a function resulting from neurological structures that have evolved from the beginning of time, serving the purpose of human survival. This view denies the spiritual dimension of our being, diminishes our value, and makes our purpose somewhat arbitrary. If we are honest with ourselves intuitively, we will admit there is something missing in these answers.

Profound answers flow when we contemplate these questions from a spiritual perspective. The incredible complexity, beauty and order of the human body, mind and soul, and of life itself, could neither be the result of countless chance accidents or mutations, but only the work of a grand designer who created us for loving relationships with Him and each other. We can believe because it was His plan that we would believe in Him. Believe so that we could maintain a connection with Him. Believe so that we could communicate with Him, and grow in a loving relationship with Him that would give purpose and meaning to our lives and our relationships with others. Without the ability to believe, loving would be impossible. Survival is only the beginning of the story; loving is the end. We were made for loving, because loving is His essence, and we are the object of His love. How grandly we are elevated by His love, how noble is our purpose, how glorious is our God!

By the time our nervous systems mature, questions arise about what exactly we will believe and they continue throughout our lives. In our maturity, we are able to reflect and choose what we will believe. Yet it can be so subtle at times, we do not realize we are choosing what to believe. We exist, are alive, can sense, think, choose and act, because a miracle has occurred. We had nothing to do with the miracle. Sure, we could say it was a miracle of union between egg and sperm, but what was the origin of sperm and eggs; how did they come to be? How did genetic material, DNA and basic proteins come to be? It was a miracle of creation. So, in what or in whom shall we believe: in the creation or the Creator? It would behoove us to choose carefully, because the consequences of our choice are as starkly different as darkness and light.

Realizing the foibles of our ability to believe, we must also be careful to choose the true God. There are well over one hundred religions practiced presently on Earth, not including esoteric spirituality, and personally devised beliefs or philosophies. Clearly, there is a great yearning in human beings for spiritual communion with God. We are apt to squander our belief on gods of our own, or man's creation, as opposed to the God of our creation. Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Ministries has observed there is only one religion where God has actively sought out a relationship with humankind, as opposed to humankind seeking out a relationship with God. There is only one religion where God has become a human being in a daring and bold act of love, to secure a relationship between humankind and God. There is only one religion where God inspired a multitude of authors spanning thousands of years to write a book containing His wisdom, truth, and love to illuminate the past, present and future. Only one faith is validated by the fulfillment of hundreds of specific prophecies, most notably that Jesus Christ, both God and man was the Savior of the world. He would be humbly born; live a perfectly loving life; reveal all essential truths in His miraculous teaching ministry; give His own life in order to save mankind; rise from the dead in glory; and ascend into heaven. It is a religion whose only purpose is to support believers' loving relationship with the true God; Christianity.

God has not specifically defined love in the Bible. Yet the Bible in its essence is a love story. God has revealed that He is love. Perhaps there is no definition, because just as God is infinite and beyond our ability to grasp, so too is His love. Defining love would limit it. If we look at the thousands of verses in the Bible where the word love or loving appears, we are provided some clues about the profound and robust nature of God's love. His love is honest and true, forgiving and merciful, full of grace and peace, righteous, just and fair, protective and strong, rebuking, correcting, and guiding, kind and giving, helpful and hopeful, patient and long-suffering, persistent and enduring, promise keeping, good and gentle, slow to anger, compassionate and empathetic, sincere, loyal, encouraging, joyful and friendly. God’s love provides us with the ultimate model of loving for our own relationships. His love is active, dynamic, and dramatic. It is so much more than a tender feeling or bond. When we act in accordance with His design for loving, we experience happiness in its purest form. When we stray from its profound wisdom, we shall have no peace. His love is powerfully inviting and relentlessly pursuing. He loves us, and wants our love for our own good; not out of a need that He has, but rather because it is part of His nature. His love is the light of the world.