What Kind of Love is This?

First Wednesday in Lent March 12, 2025

Can we even call it love, given the comparatively poor emotion we’ve ascribed to the word? Human love, at its best, can reach great heights, but divine love, true love, is something else entirely. It is not merely an aspiration, a promise, or a hope for something greater. It is not just an expression or a feeling. It is the thing itself, embodied in Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us that the love of Christ is unlike anything we have ever seen: “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us first, and gave His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

As we enter this Lenten season, let us not cling to the fleeting and imperfect love of the world, nor trust in our own feeble attempts at perfect love. Instead, let us empty ourselves alongside our Savior, that even the slightest measure of His love may again enlighten our hearts to salvation. In following Christ to the cross, we behold not only perfect love, but we are taught to love perfectly, the love of the cross, the love that gives all for the sake of another.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, You have shown forth Your love for humanity in the person of Your Son, Jesus Christ. As we walk through this Lenten season, may we not only see Your love fulfilled for our sake, but also make room for Your Holy Spirit to enter in and teach us to love, to love You with all our heart, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Shape us in the love of Christ, that we may reflect His love to the world. In His holy name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Curtis Dorsey

LWML Atlantic District Queens Zone Pastoral Counselor

Redeemer Lutheran Church, Glendale