Have you ever noticed what happens to advertising at the beginning of February? Engagement ring commercials pop up everywhere—on TV, in newspaper ads, on billboards, and on the radio. The theme running through most of these ads is that the beauty of a diamond expresses an undying love between a man and a woman.
Where did the connection between diamonds and love originate? The ancient Egyptians had a fascinating theory about love. They believed that the vena amores, translated as the vein of love, flowed directly from the heart to the third finger of the left hand. That corresponds to what we call the ring finger. The Greeks, on the other hand, were entranced with the beauty of diamonds. They had a tradition that said that the glow from this most dazzling gemstone reflected the eternal flame of love.
When the Egyptian and Greek myths were combined, the result was the diamond engagement ring. In 1477, Archduke Maximilian of Austria presented the first engagement ring to Mary of Burgundy. He began a tradition that has spread throughout the world.
I’m sure you will agree with me that love is a powerful force. A young couple who wants to spend the rest of their lives together will conquer mountains of hardships to be with each other. What do you do in your life that is motivated by love? If you have children, I’m sure you can name countless things you do for them just because you love them. We do the same for our parents, husbands, friends, sometimes even for people we don’t know.
A newspaper story illustrates how people will help others they don’t even know out of love for their fellow man. A group in Iraq was trying to help other Iraqis reconstruct their lives. From 1994-2001, Saddam Hussein, the sadistic dictator at the time, ordered his minions to perform all kinds of abuse on his own countrymen. One technique he instituted was cutting off the ear of any soldier caught deserting his post in the army. Anyone with a mutilated ear was shunned in Iraqi society. These people were not allowed by law to have a job, and most never married because of the humiliation they constantly suffered. Saad Mohammed Allwan was an Iraqi soldier who refused to fight against his own Kurdish countrymen in northern Iraq and therefore was given this punishment. He says of his life after 1994, “Sometimes I would have preferred to die.”
Some Iraqi physicians and others formed a group called the National Iraqi Association for the Defense of Human Rights for the purpose of helping people like Saad. Through this group, hundreds of people are receiving plastic surgery to repair the damage they suffered.
One man whose life has been changed drastically because of this reconstruction ear surgery says, “It feels so good to be able to walk around in the street again and not be embarrassed or feel like people are looking at you.” The love of these Iraqi volunteers have helped many build lives out of a shambles.
We can see expressions of love in so many places around us. Loving people volunteer at soup kitchens, serve as foster parents, coach handicap sports teams, help build homes for the poor, or take care of the needs of an elderly neighbor. Their actions warm our hearts.
But there is a kind of love that is more powerful than any other—God’s love. As humans, our love is fickle and conditional. We are tempted to withhold our love when someone hurts us. Some people will only love people who fit a certain ethnic or class criteria. Others will only love if they are loved first. But God’s love is different. We have all experienced His gentleness, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, and patience. They are all components of His inexhaustible love.
The New Testament was written in Greek, a language that uses a specific word when talking about God’s kind of love. Called agape, it is defined as a supernatural, unconditional love that is expressed as an act of God’s will, not merely as a feeling. This love is given freely, not because the person receiving the love has earned it, but because of who God is. God loves because of His holy character rather than because we are worthy of His love. Sometimes, God’s love is “in spite of” rather than “because of.”
We have seen the greatest example of agape love—when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. None of us deserved or earned that love. Jesus gave of Himself freely. No one can measure the length, depth, or breadth of God’s love because it is limitless. We will never exhaust it. In fact, it is richer and greater than we could ever imagine.
The power of God’s love is so much greater than any love a human can have on his own. Let me illustrate with an example.
One day, a first grade teacher explained to her friend how much she loved the twenty students in her class. They were her pride and joy. She felt like she was just filled with love for them.
At the end of the year, the teacher and her husband found out that they could adopt a baby in a few weeks. Their little girl was born just a few days after the first grade class matriculated into second grade and the summer break began. One day, a social worker placed the tiny baby into her arms.
One thought amazed the teacher. As she held that little person and the baby squirmed in her arms, she realized that the love that she had developed for her students after teaching them for an entire school year didn’t compare to the love she had for this baby girl who had only been in her arms for a few moments!
Of course, we all understand how God planted a special love between a mother and her child. But the comparison illustrates this truth: The love we have for people when we love with God’s love is no match for the love we have when we love in our human strength. God’s love is so far above any other kind of love that we cannot put it on the same plane as any other. His love has special power and endurance, depth and strength. In our own strength, we can love people and even perform great deeds for them, like the physicians in Iraq or the volunteers in Habitat for Humanity. But any love we muster up on our own will is like a vapor compared the love we will have when we let God love through us. Then we too will be spreading agape, unconditional love.
But how do we love people with God’s love? Let’s admit it. Some people are difficult to love! We do so by loving by faith. This simple act of faith will transform our relationships and give us incredible joy!
Because God never changes, we can be sure that what He says about His love will never change either. God says, “I am the Lord, and I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, the apostle Paul gives us God’s description of God’s love.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
This is the kind of love that God shows us. Does this give you a feeling of deep security and comfort in placing your life in His hands? Through love, He is always looking out for our best.
By Vonette Bright
©2025 Copyright Bright Media Foundation
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