Created Desire #1: LOVE Part One

God has placed desires into our hearts. The purpose of these desires is to draw us to Him. The enemy counterfeits them and sells us cheap imitations. These imitations cannot satisfy, although many of us have settled for them. These next few posts are going to show us some of these desires. Once we learn what they are we can learn to pursue them in godly ways. I welcome you to join me on this journey, it’s a lifelong pursuit that has the potential to change your life. The big secret is that these desires are God’s desires too.

Babies need love in order to thrive. Scientific evidence shows that love in the first year of a child’s life has a direct and measurable impact on a child’s physical, mental and emotional growth. Neurologists agree that love actually causes children’s brains to grow. We all need love, we need to receive love from others and we need to give love to others. Love is a basic need of all humanity. Psychologists have spent years studying the basic needs of all humans and they have found that love and is one of the critical needs that all humans need to have met in order to function normally in society. Because love is a universal human need, young girls and women will search for it, often without realizing what they are doing, and unfortunately many do unhealthy things in order to find what they think is love.

The Bible teaches:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (NASB)
Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever.
1 John 4:8 …God is love. (NIV)

God and love are synonymous, love is not an attribute of God, it is God. Why do we have a desire to be loved and to love others? Because God is love and we are created in His image.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (ESV)

The desire to love and be loved is rooted in our DNA, God put it there so that we could choose to love Him and choose to receive His love. Most of us know in our head that God loves us, we know that He died on the cross to save us from our sins, yet we don’t know or feel that He loves us deeply. The Father’s heart is one of deep love for His children. The cool secret is that God also has this desire, He wants to be loved and to love.

Coming Up: Love Part Two - how feeling unloved is painful and how our worth is determined by the "One" who loves us...stay tuned...