... And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (NIV)

Growing up, my younger sister used to do something that really bugged me. We'd get in some inane argument about some inane subject. I'd usually start with my superior reasoning to prove why something “is,” and we'd go back and forth:

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too, infinity.”

“Is not, infinity plus one.”

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ARRGH! She got me again.

If infinity is infinite, then how can you add one to it? But if you can't add one, doesn't that make infinity finite? It just goes to show that infinity is a mind-blowing concept to grasp. Which is why there was no reasoning with my sister. Which brings us to today's sticky note prayer response: “My love is the best love for you.”

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Why would God respond as He did to the writer of this sticky note? Just think about that for a second. Let it sink in and when you're ready, consider this question: Why is God's love the best for me?

As you ponder that question, let's learn a little more about God's love.

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Love is a major Biblical theme throughout the Old and New Testaments. It starts at the top with God, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Not only is God's love foundational in His being, He makes it foundational in our being as well. Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39). We are to love each other deeply because love allows repeated forgiveness (1 Pet. 4:8).

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We're instructed that love is patient and kind, that it does not envy or boast, and it is not proud, rude, or self-serving. It is not easily angered, nor keeps tracks of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth, and it always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Cor. 13:4-8).

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It was love that compelled God to repeatedly forgive the Israelites (Hos. 11:1-4, just one of many examples). It was out of love that God sent his only Son to live among and to die for us (John 3:16). It is through love that we express our faith (Gal. 5:6), and one day, love will be all that remains because love will be all that has meaning (1 Cor. 13:13).

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Wow. Love is a pretty big deal in God's Kingdom. And I've just scratched the surface. I'm sure you can add more, much more. I think of love as God's electricity. It's essential to everything we do. We must plug into it, for without it, we can't hope, trust, feel, or interact. Without it, we die.

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So, have you answered the question yet? Why is God's love the best for me? What's your answer?

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Like infinity plus one, it’s sort of a trick question. No matter how you answered, as much as we try to characterize God's love, there's always more to it. Like infinity, God's love is a mind-blowing concept to grasp.

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In today's Scripture, Paul flat-out tells us that God's love surpasses knowledge. We will never understand the wholeness of it while we roam this fallen world. Maybe that's why today's sticky note prayer response was expressed as a statement. His love is the best love for us because, well, it is. We don't need to fully understand it. The best thing I can advise is to just accept it. Like Jesus, it is His gift to us given through grace and driven by love. Enjoy it. Relish it. Bask in it. Rejoice in it. Be thankful for it, for there is nothing that can separate you from God's love:

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“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).

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God's love, plus one. Seems my sister was reasonable after all.

Father, open my mind and fill it with knowledge. Knowledge about what it means to be loved by you. And Lord, what knowledge surpasses me, let me be comforted in knowing that your love is the best love for me. It is your perfect gift. Please help me to truly accept it, believe in it, grow from it, and express my faith through it. I thank you, Lord, for your unfathomable love for me. In Jesus' name, Amen.