Immeasurable Depths

Yesterday I saw a post someone shared on social media that said, “all we need is love and coffee.”  The post was captioned with a sort of discourse on how much better our world would be if everyone could sit in a big circle together while drinking coffee and sharing compliments.  What a nice, fluffy and warm feeling, right?  I get it.  People are trying to share comforting, non-controversial messages in an attempt to spread positivity in a time when our world desperately needs it.  While nothing is wrong with these messages, they reduce love to a nice little saying that doesn’t even scratch the surface.  Our world is starving for love; love that is authentic, unconditional, deep, and life-changing.  Our world is starving for the love of Jesus Christ.

It seems like everyone has a different idea of what love is.  There are certain ways it should look and feel and certain places it should be found.  People are told that if they want to be “accepting and loving” they need to react to every situation in a certain way and speak up about one issue over another, so as not to be deemed “careless” or “ignorant.”  People seem to spend so much time arguing about what it is supposed to look like when we love others that they completely miss the love that is right in front of them.

​Love isn’t just a feeling or some fleeting emotion.  It’s also not just getting whatever you want or something that makes you happy.  Love is Jesus suffering and dying on the cross for you and me, and for every single person in the world.  Love is Jesus wounded and beaten, crying out, “I thirst” as blood and water pours out from his side.  There is absolutely nothing else He could have done to demonstrate the immeasurable depths of His love for us.  

​While we can never fully comprehend the immense love He has for us, we can take time each day to make ourselves aware of His love and accept it into our hearts.  Jesus thirsts for our hearts and souls and waits to pour out His love upon us.  Take time to pray before a crucifix and reflect on the fact that if you were the only person in the world, he still would have died for you.  I don’t know about you, but that is something that blows my mind.

Jesus loves us so much that he suffered immensely for us.  From his agony in the garden, to being whipped and beaten, carrying his cross, and then ultimately, being nailed to the cross and commending his spirit into the hands of the Father, this is the love that has the power to change lives, and ultimately, the world.  We can sometimes get so caught up in everything going on around us that we fail to remember what is important.  As St. John Paul II once said, “what really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love him in return.  In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary.  And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.”  I pray that everyone will come to know the deep, unending sacrificial love Jesus has for them.  

Take a step back from the chaos of our world and just rest in His love today!