The Measure of Love by David Jeremiah

Friday, December 22 The Measure of Love But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Ephesians 2:4-5 How long is an inch? What is the volume of a quart? America’s Founding Fathers gave the responsibility to Congress to establish “standards of weights and measures throughout the United States.” President George Washington ordered Thomas Jefferson to create a plan for maintaining uniform standards. And the sixth president, John Quincy Adams, wrote while serving as Secretary of State in 1821, “Weights and measures may be ranked among the necessities of life to every individual of human society.” Today, the National Institute of Standards and Technology keeps track of measurements.

Recommended Reading: 1 John 4:16

But there is one measurement, more important than all the rest, for which the NIST has no standard. And that is how love is measured. We are not left without a standard, though. Jesus said that love is measured by sacrifice, the greatest sacrifice being to lay down one’s life for another (John 15:13). It is no surprise that the God who is love sacrificed His own Son so we might be reconciled to Him and have eternal life (1 John 4:8, 16). Sacrifice is how we know that God loves us, and how we know we truly love others.