JESUS is what love is all about. He cut through every boundary of stuffy selfish bureaucracy to establish an everlasting way to love on earth.

The King came in Jesus, and the Kingdom came in Jesus. The King came and so did the Kingdom in love.

Jesus was a love so great he healed at the risk of riling the ruling Jews going against their legalistic application of Sabbath. He overturned cultural norms and welcomed children, talked with women, touched lepers, and spent time with the despised. He chastised the ruling classes for their oppression of foreigners, widows, and orphans. He told stories that sent shockwaves through the culture by revealing to the culture how corrupt the culture had become. Ultimately, Jesus was a love so great that he ran with it headlong into crucifixion; the vitriolic pride of the powerful had been piqued. Love often gets the raw end of the deal in this world and in Jesus' case love got him killed.

His was a love so great it resounded against his prevailing culture. He routinely put others first. He regularly said and did things that none of us would do.

His is the perfect standard of love.

But Jesus' love - a love so great - compels us to greatly desire to love like he did. We fall short of it even in the doing it, but, as we greatly desire to love like he did, we resolve to continue to keep our love on. And God shows us what we can achieve is a comparative lot.

Love is visibly positive, patiently kind, not ever threatened and non-threatening, embodying faith and hope. It believes for the best and endures when tested.

Love is too high a standard for any human being to meet with consistency, but we strive for it because we love our Saviour.