What is love? How do we define it? A model definition can be found in the marriage ceremony where the minister asks the bride and groom, ‘Will you love, comfort, honour and protect your (husband/wife) and be faithful to them as long as you both shall live?’… Do you take (each other) ‘to have and to hold, from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part’? … In the marriage ceremony love is expressed as a lifelong giving of each other for each other. That’s similar to our relationship to God: when we start out in the Christian life it’s a bit like the marriage ceremony, where ‘God so loved [us] He gave His one and only Son.’ And in giving His Son to us God says to all who will listen:
“Sinner, Do you take this Saviour?”
“I will” (is the response God so desires to hear)
“And Saviour, do you take this sinner?”
“I will,” (says Jesus, with open arms!)