Love deeply

Deep inside every human being is a capacity to love. Sadly, because of sin, humans are inclined to love the wrong things at the wrong proportions. The natural man has inclination to love anything but God. The Pharisees (in the bible) had the inclination to treasure prestige and power rather than the Source of all power and authority. The Christians struggle to treasure God but they know God's deep love for them will be able to help them overcome and endure all things. Though they remain imperfect, acknowledging their weaknesses made way for God's perfect strength (including that of love) to work in them. Still, they may not love as perfectly as God does but there is the drive to do so because God's love is the driving force. So humans love God (including 0%) but in varying degrees.

That however, is not the only 'love problem'. Not only that we do not love the right things enough, but we do not love the right things deep enough. Francis A. Schaeffer pointed out that the compact essence of the Ten Commandments was this: I am to love God enough to be contented. I am to love others enough not to envy. As much as the amount of love mentioned is necessary , I think that depth of love is a issue of concern as well.

We can love God on the surface, honoring Him with our lips, yet have our hearts far from Him. Many times, we can be deceived that we love God more than we actually do. The same applies with loving others. On the surface, we seem be living harmoniously with the people around us yet when conflicts arise, we see the ugliness of each other. I am sad to say that though we may not have enemies, it is still possible to judge others and in doing that, fail to love. Our love for God and men can be shallower than we think and shallow love can never glorify God.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8 NIV)

Let us recognize the need for deep love. Trust the deep love of Christ will help us to overcome sins, overlook sins and love in a way that will guide others to holiness and draw them to the loving God.