What is love? God is love.<\/p>\n
How do I know love? Because I am loved. An unloved being can\u2019t know love. It is a terrible tragedy to not know you are loved. God loves us, so we know love. We exist because of his loving thought, his loving interest, his loving gaze. We exist in God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n
To not know God is like not knowing air. We can\u2019t live without air, but we don\u2019t have to know it exists to breathe it. Air won\u2019t stop being air because you think it is not air\u2014it is the same with God\u2019s love. God doesn\u2019t stop loving us because we don\u2019t know he loves us. We are loved whether we recognize it or not.<\/p>\n
God is better than air, though. Air is indifferent to us. God is not\u2014God cares. He wants us to love him in return. We are important to him. He wants our love, and he gives us his love even if we don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n
It is a greater tragedy, then, to not accept God\u2019s love. God\u2019s love is as accessible as air. We can\u2019t avoid it since we exist in it, and we would cease to exist without it. Yet this little part is left: our part<\/em>\u00a0to accept or reject it.<\/p>\n What does it look like to reject God\u2019s love? You might pretend that God doesn\u2019t love you then live your life that way, or you might live indifferent to his love. Or you might acknowledge that he loves you, but not accept his love because you feel unworthy. Newsflash! Not one of us is worthy of God\u2019s love! Loving God and being loved by him is not about being worthy. Love is a choice\u2014God\u2019s choice\u2014for you.<\/p>\n The question now is: \u201cHow do I accept God\u2019s love?\u201d\u00a0 The answer: By loving him in return, with all that love implies.<\/p>\n What does love imply? I found the answer in John\u2019s gospel:\n<\/p>\n \u201cIf you love me, you will keep my commandments.<\/em>\u201d (Jn. 14:15) God\u2019s love is life-changing! It changes us. Responding to love with love changes us\u2014our behaviors, our attitudes, our lives\u2014because we begin to choose love over other things. Accepting God\u2019s love changes our choice\u2014we begin to choose God!<\/p>\n In choosing God, we begin to choose other people as well. We reveal the love of God to others by loving them: \u201cThis I command you: love one another<\/em>\u201d (Jn. 15:17).<\/p>\n A beautiful passage for reflection is 1 John 4:7-12, which I hope you can read while prayerfully reflecting on the greatness of God\u2019s love, both for you personally and for each and every one of us. My prayer is that each of you have a very blessed Lent!<\/strong><\/p>\n In Christ,<\/p>\n Nicole Buchholz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends in Christ, What is love? God is love. How do I know love? Because I am loved. An unloved being can\u2019t know love. It is a terrible tragedy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":148082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6616],"tags":[4245,5768],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-144501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-message","tag-gods-love","tag-loved"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cWhoever loves me will keep my word\u2026<\/em>\u201d (Jn. 14:23)
\n\u201cAs the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love<\/em>.\u201d (Jn. 15:9-10)
\n\u201cThis is my commandment: love one another as I love you<\/em>.\u201d (Jn. 15:12)<\/p>\n