Ahhh yes… In the words of the 1955 William Holden film, “Love…” indeed “…Is A Many-Splendored Thing”. But in the vein of the 2013 Simpsons episode, “Love is [also] A Many-Splintered Thing”. When it comes to love of family, of friend, love of good and noble things, love really does appear to be all we need. But the harsh reality of love in a fallen world is that in a lot of little ways, it can really get under our skin and be painful too. Why? Because sin has infected what we perceive to be love with all of the counterfeits and knock-offs of Satan.

But then there’s God’s infinite love. Truly there is nothing like it. And in fact, God is the ultimate source of all true love. And we know what true love is whenever we take an honest look at the Scriptures and the Savior. In Christ we learn that infinitely beyond all of the friendly love, the familial love, the sexual love, and that distinctly different from all of the Satanic and sinful deceptions of love, there exists the supremely selfless and completely sacrificial love of God.

And there is no better, no clearer, and no more powerful demonstration of that love than what we find in John 3:16, when it says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son...” And yet because of our finite minds, we find ourselves facing a sort of conundrum. You see, that same apostle John also wrote in 1 John 2:15 that we are to, “…not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” What is up with that, right?

So is God giving His children one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” type commandments? I don’t think so. In fact, I know He’s not. But we need to examine more closely the oh so familiar John 3:16 to help us fully understand what it means.