Sometimes we dismiss love. It’s a small word. It’s easy to reduce to to a nice feeling. It is (in my rose-coloured-glasses way of seeing the world) all around. And it’s easy to take it for granted or to think there are more weighty/difficult/intellectual theological matters.

So I am grateful for this reminder that love isn’t small minded or something we can bypass. It is, in fact, the crux of our faith. I use the word “crux” on purpose because it is a word that means “cross” and “decisive point or most important point at issue.”

The cross is THE decisive point of our faith. The most important point of our faith. The moment when the rift between God and humanity is bridged, by the LOVING sacrifice of Jesus. It all comes down to love. Always.

Love is also difficult. It demands action from us, it demands vulnerability, it demands that we put others above ourselves. It demands that we do that even if we don’t “like” the person we’re trying to love. It is a life-long process, and simply the most important thing to which you can devote your time.

Jesus loves you. Dearly. Desperately. Enough to lay down his life for you. If you feel even the slightest gratitude for that reality – the best thing to do is to pay it forward by loving others. When you do that, Jesus says, you honour him, his life, his teachings, his death and his ressurection!

Until tomorrow, dear friends, keep on loving others in His name.