Read: 1 John 4:9-16

Do you know how many words are in the English language?  Do you know how much water is in the oceans of the world?  I think of these things every time I sing the hymn “The Love of God.”  It says, “The Love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell… To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry.”  If you have ever wondered about God’s love for you the words of that song sum it up.  It is greater than you can imagine and it extends further than the highest star in the sky.  That is a great love and it will last forever.

Frederick M Lehman wrote that hymn in 1917 after he lost everything in some businesses that went wrong.  He then began working in a packing house in Pasadena, California packing oranges to try and get back on his feet. One Sunday he was moved by a sermon on the love of God and could not sleep that night.  The next morning he penned the lyrics to this hymn on some scrap pieces of paper and broken crates as he worked.  He later put it together with the melody as he sat by his piano.

In 1 John 4:9 the Bible says that God showed us his love by sending his one and only Son Jesus into the world so that we might live through him.  He sent him to show us how to live this life but he also sent him as a sacrifice for our sins.  Those verses go on to say that since God loves us this much, and continues to love us this much that we should also love one another.  If we do that it says that God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  God loves you far greater than you could ever imagine, I hope you will accept his immeasurable and unending love for you today.  By the way, according to Google and the Oxford dictionary there are currently 171,146 words in use in the English language.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey there is 321,000,000 cubic miles of water volume in the worlds oceans, seas, and bays.

Make It Personal:  These scripture verses and this hymn share about God’s love for us but in verse 19 of 1 John 4 it says, “We love because he first loved us.”  Let’s go out and love others in the way that God loves us.  This will make the world a much better place to live.