When I was in school, we touched briefly on a concept in Psychology called “Cognitive Dissonance.” It has broad-ranging implications, but the basic idea is that, as people, we often hold contradictory ideas in our heads and act in ways to alleviate the dissonance or the differences between those ideas. The term “Cognitive Dissonance” is also used to describe the difference between a person’s beliefs and their actions when those are not in line.

Today, I want to focus on one dissonance that is often present in our lives as believers. I know, especially in my life, it is impossible to fully comprehend the vastness of the Love of God, and so oftentimes I don’t try to understand, and I don’t live in recognition of that perfect love. Instead of living out God’s perfect love and showing it to all those whom God loves, I take the easy route of doing my best to love those I am close to, those I already love, and those whom it is easy to love. But that is not the love of God.

God’s love is perfect. Throughout the Bible, the greatness of His love is extolled. The Psalmist wrote that:

God’s love is without end, and it is so vast that we cannot fully understand it, as the Apostle Paul tells us in this prayer for the Ephesians:

What an incredible weight of love we are given. And, importantly for us believers, God’s love is not just shown to us, the members of His family. The Apostle John wrote about God’s love that:

Indeed, God loves not just those who follow Him but the entire world. He loves the unbelievers and those in fierce rebellion toward Him no less than us, His followers. He loves the worst murderers and thieves and liars and adulterers exactly as much as He loves us, perfectly and without price.

In light of God’s love, we ought to show love, not only to those like us, but to all those whom God loves. We ought to spend time praying for those who are far from God and acting purposely to show God’s love to them.

I ask you today, how will you love those that God loves? Talk with Him; ask Him how you can show His love better and to more people. And pray with us for our people, those we know, that He will show His perfect love to them in their needs.

God’s Love and Encouragement be with you all, 
Noah