The Greatest of These

One thing I have been learning a lot about is God's love. Now, I still have a lot to learn. I mean, how can you fully learn about a love that can never fully be comprehended? Anyway, I teach Kindergarten. One of my favorite books to read to my class is The Jesus Storybook Bible. It is fabulous. It has gorgeous pictures, and the Bible stories are told in a very kid-friendly way. However, my favorite part of this book is the way it describes God's love for us.

Every time it refers to God's love, it calls it "Never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love." Wow. The first time I read it, I was blown away at how well this book for Children described God's love. And every time I am reading a story to my class and come across this phrase, it stops me in my tracks. I try to read it slowly and soak up each word. Even when I do that, it is still hard for me to wrap my brain around.

Also quite recently, I have discovered the story of Hosea (Yes, recently. I am not sure how I came to be an adult without knowing this story!) In case you are not familiar with the story either, God asks Hosea to marry a woman who didn't have a good past and didn't make great choices. While they were married, she left Hosea and continued to make bad choices. But through all of this, Hosea took her back and continued to love her. This is such an amazing picture of God's love for us. We sin, we turn away from God, we try to figure things out on our own, we try to plan our lives the way we think is best and ignore God's leading, we don't always make good choices. And through it all, GOD STILL LOVES US. He still takes us back, He continues to forgive us, He stays faithful to His Word, and He still looks at us as His precious children.

His love never stops, even when we make mistakes. His love never gives up, even when we turn away or ignore Him. His love is unbreaking, even when we make the wrong choices. And His love is always and forever, no matter how long it takes us to accept it and believe it.

It has taken me a long time to realize the depth of God's love. Honestly, I hope I never stop discovering just how deep it is. I think that maybe the most amazing part is, He knows we can never return this same kind of love to Him. And He still chooses to show us His love anyway.