30/08/25

Some infinites are larger than others. That thought sounds like a contradiction, but it’s actually true. Mathematicians discovered that infinity isn’t just a single size - there are levels to it. One infinity can be greater than another, even though both are endless. It feels absurd at first, but it unlocks a picture of something far greater than numbers on a chalkboard: the love of God.

We often try to measure love. We weigh it by sacrifice, by time, by gifts, by words. But what happens when you try to measure God’s love? Where would you even begin? John gives us the only starting point: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love doesn’t spring out of nowhere - it begins as a response to His. Everything we offer is just an echo of what He has already poured out. And compared to Him, even the total love of all humanity, stretched across every generation, would still collapse under the weight of His infinite love.

Here’s the staggering truth: even if you and I gave every second of every day to loving others, we wouldn’t come close to reflecting 1% of His love. Think about that. All your energy, all your devotion, all your striving to love like Jesus - it still amounts to less than the smallest fraction of the infinite ocean that is God’s love. This isn’t meant to belittle our love. In fact, it magnifies His. We don’t exist to compete with God’s love; we exist to reflect it. The greatness of His love shows us the smallness of our own - and the smallness of our own shows us why His love is so vital. If my best love can barely scratch 1%, then I desperately need His love flowing through me. My human efforts can’t heal, can’t restore, can’t save. Only His can. Paul described this same impossibility in Ephesians 3:18-19, praying that believers “may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Notice the paradox - to know a love that surpasses knowledge. It’s not something you pin down. It’s something you fall into, something that swallows you whole. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on God’s love, you find there’s more, and more, and more. 

This should crush our pride. So often, we think of ourselves as loving well - loving our family, our friends, even our enemies. But the moment pride sneaks in, we’ve forgotten how tiny our love is compared to His. Without Him, even our best attempts at love are frail and self-serving. The comparison isn’t to discourage but to humble. We only shine because He is the source of light, and it should also lift our hope. Because if His love is that much greater, it means we are never without enough. Our strength runs out, but His never does. We give up on people, but He never does. We can barely grasp the edge of His love, and that tiny glimpse is enough to change everything. When life feels like a desert, His love is still a flood. When we fail to love well, He never fails to love perfectly.

This is personally so important for my faith. When times are tough, when disagreements come, I remember that God’s love for me is so great, and I should try to reflect that to others. It steadies me, because it reminds me that love is not something I manufacture - it is something I borrow. If He has chosen to love me in my failures, how could I not at least attempt to love others in theirs? Something that has challenged me is how God never forces us into His love. Despite how much He longs for us to come and live with Him in eternity, He still respects our choice if we decide to walk away. That shows me a love that is both powerful and patient - strong enough to save, yet gentle enough to let go. If friends go, friends go. His example helps me to release people without bitterness, knowing that love does not have to cling or control. A really simple example of this is badmouthing. When a friendship or relationship ends, it’s so easy to speak poorly of the other person. But love calls me to reflect God’s grace instead - to hold my tongue, to forgive, and to let His love be the louder voice. Is it something I've been good at? Not always. But is it something to work towards? Absolutely.

Imagine standing on the edge of the ocean. You can cup your hands and scoop up a little water, but it’s nothing compared to the horizonless depth before you. That’s the image here. My little handful of love is real, but it’s microscopic compared to the expanse of God’s. That doesn’t mean the handful doesn’t matter - it means it matters precisely because it comes from the ocean itself. He is the source, and without Him, there is no water at all. John’s words echo again: “We love because he first loved us.” It always begins with Him. Our love is not self-generated, not something we can take credit for. It is responsive. It is a reflection. It is borrowed light from an eternal flame. Even if we could spend eternity loving perfectly, it would still only be a fraction - one infinity trying to catch another, and always finding the other larger, and that is good news. Because God’s love is inexhaustible, we don’t have to live in fear of running out. We can give freely, forgive fully, serve joyfully, because His love will never hit empty. We will never match it, never rival it, never even reach 1%. And yet - in His grace - He lets our little reflect His infinite.