This passage is one of the better known passages in all of the Bible; hardly a single wedding goes by without someone reciting it. And, it’s a beautiful passage and does such a wonderful, colorful job of explaining what it means to truly love somebody. And that’s why my mind drifted to this passage this month. Mother’s Day, as you all know, is celebrated during the month of May. And there is no love among people like the love that a mother has for her children; it is a bond that persists through the good times and the bad, neither time nor distance has any affect on how much a mother loves her kids. In fact, I would say that there is no better display of the kind of love Paul is talking about in this letter to the Corinthians than the love of a mother.
I think about my own mother and how, after watching me portray the crucified Jesus in a skit at church as a teenager, she said to the congregation, “I realized that I don’t love any of you enough to sacrifice my son for you.” And I think about my wife, Karla’s, love for our kids; how she dotes on them, encourages them, takes care of them. The bond between a mother and her children is unlike any other bond between people.
Now, you notice that I have said that there is no love like a mother’s love “between people;” and I have said that the bond between a mother and her children is unlike any other “between people.” The reason I keep using that phrase “between people” is because, while there is no other earthly love, no other earthly bond, like the one between mother and child, there certainly does exist a love and bond greater than that in the universe; and that is the love that God has for us, His creation, His children.
Think about this: God didn’t need to create us; He existed in perfect harmony, unity, and love without us. He is God, and He would have always continued to be God whether He created us or not. No, He created us because He is so loving that we, His greatest creation, were an outpouring of that love. Further, God created us for His glory; as Scripture states in places such as Isaiah 43:6-7, “Bring my sons from afar my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” God created us so that we could know, understand, and share the beauty, grace, worth, goodness, and love of God in every aspect of our lives; we exist to be a reflection of who God is, and the love that is such a vital part of His character.
And, finally, because God is a God of love, He desired something or someone to pour that love out upon. So, He also created us out of a desire for reciprocal love; He created us with the ability to accept His love and return it to Him or to reject it. God doesn’t need our love, but He desires our love; He longs for our love because of how deeply He loves us. However, being given the power to choose to accept or reject God’s love eventually led to the unfortunate outcome that humanity, who in the beginning knew full communion with God, rejected that love and brought ruin and depravity upon God’s creation: this was the fall of man.
But, even still, even when mankind rejected God’s love, even when His people continued to turn their back on Him and turn toward idols over and over, God never stopped loving us. In fact, so great was His love, that He sacrificed His only Son as the penalty for our sinfulness and depravity so that we might be able to truly know Him, love Him, and spend eternity in His Kingdom. And that Kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth that He will usher in after the final defeat of Satan and evil, will be the truest expression of love we could ever experience. For, it is in this Kingdom that we will get to experience true communion with the Triune God for all eternity; where we will get to bask in the glory of His presence forever!
So, this May, this Mother’s Day, as we honor and celebrate all of the mothers, step-mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, as we thank them and show gratitude for their immense love for us, let us not forget to also give thanks and honor to God; the One who created us, the One sustains us, the One who loves us, the One who purchased for us our place in the perfect Kingdom of God. For, as much as a mother loves her children, God loves us even more!
May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you,
Pastor Keith
