John 3:16 (AMP) – For God so loved the world that he gave—Not grudgingly but cheerfully, he gave his only son.

Have you ever been in love? What did it feel like?

Was it love at first sight, or was it something out of Beauty and the Beast?

Popular media continuously sell the concept of love and love at first sight. Why not? It’s a lovely story. It’s filled with goosebumps and sweet thoughts.

Now, let me tell you a different story.

It’s a story of love, alright, and yes, it was love at first sight. It all began in Genesis; God fell in love with deep darkness.

He had an idea of green mountains and hills with dew-soaked plateaus that held the rarest flowers. He thought of burying gold in the deep places and lightening up the firmament, so it glowed in the day and at night. Like every idea conceived, it was beautiful.

So he set to work for seven days. He didn’t rest until he had every bird in its nest and every corral in its place. He even made you and me in his exact form!

Then He had dinner dates with his creation in this garden called Eden. Why not. Love is always in the company of the object of its love.

It was like eating out in the most exotic place. God was head over heels in love. But reality set in as it always does. Evil crept into the garden to ruin the perfect relationship.

Still, in love with the world, he gave his only son to save it. It’s hard to love the world. So it’s harder to give to the world.

Yet someone once shared an old revelation in a new way to us recently in our morning prayers when we read 2 Corinthians 5:19 from the Amplified Bible that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but cancelling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God].

When he shared this, he said: “You are the Christ”. Get it? You are that Christ the preachers talked about.

Of course, you must have read that ‘ye are gods’ and that ‘as He is, so are you in this world’. (Psalm 82:6; 1 John 4:17) So in some way, this is your love story.

That once upon a time you looked upon this world, and the deep darkness around you and fell in love at first sight.

You began to imagine green hills that go up in smoke clouds. And you dreamed of casting your light in the dark alcoves and brightening up every inch of its atmosphere.

And where your light could not reach, you recreate lights the way God made the moon to light the night—leaving a Godlike impact within your sphere of influence.

Each one of us isn’t just a light on a hill; we are a shade of God. In working together, our colors absorb and reflect His light in different degrees.

Once upon a time, in Genesis 2:2, God worked seven days to create the earth. After the great flood, he sent seven colors as his promise to save the earth.

We are the colors of the rainbow. We are the promise of good things. God looks on the earth and sees us reflecting brightly through the planet. Like the rainbow, we have become a naturally occurring phenomenon. But first, you have to fall in love at first sight, before you can give your light to it. When was the last time you looked at the world, and your heart twitched because passion was stirred in it?

When you come to the place of love, you won’t struggle to give from your first treasure—your light, your creativity and your resources.

You won’t struggle with intercession or with empathy. Like God, you’d give from a place of love.

Prayer:

Dear Father, help me love the world, just as you loved it so that abounding in love, I can do the work that you have called me to do here on earth.