I believe that Love is the point. It’s the very foundation of this world; it’s not a vague concept, it’s an encounter. We live to know Love… And to become love.

We were created to be loved and to love. These two truths are inseparable. That said, the knowing Love always comes first. Love is an encounter before it’s a decision. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Therefore our ability to love is directly connected to our awareness of His love. Our love is a response to a revelation of His. From our encounter we can decide to love but in all honesty, the decision to love is not the goal of a Christian. The goal is to know His love and to become surer each day. The incredible thing about this is that as we become sure in His love we are transformed and we are empowered to love – and it looks a lot like how Jesus loved.

“The decision to love is not the goal of a Christian. The goal is to know His love and to become surer each day.”

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I believe we are saved by Love so that we can truly know Love and in turn become love. It’s about transformation, it’s the difference between behavior and identity. You see, if we become love, we don’t have to decide to love, it’s just who we are. He loves and we are transformed – that’s the Christian identity. Often in life, I have placed my focus on the decision to love. I have tried harder, perspired more, become more focused on doing Christian things than becoming sure in His love.  At these times I have almost elevated my decisions above the encounter with His love, my doing above my surrender.  What I have learned is that when I do this, I relegate, demote, and limit His love. A love birthed from a decision has less power to transform than a love birthed from an encounter. From my own experience, if I stop encountering His love, my decision to love becomes sterile, forced, and powerless. In fact, loving God or others becomes an overwhelming impossibility. I have learned that I can’t fully love without first encountering His.

“From my own experience, if I stop encountering His love, my decision to love becomes sterile, forced, and powerless.”

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My daily prayer is that I would become more aware of my heavenly Father’s Love; that He would give me a heart that knows it, eyes to see it, ears to hear it, a soul that feels it, and a mind renewed by it. I want to experience His love in every season. In fact, that’s my life’s one true ambition, to become sure in His love… And I believe it’s yours as well.

Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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