Do You Know Love?

There is something deeply embedded within every human being, a longing, a hunger, a quiet ache beneath the surface of our lives. At the core of it all, what every person on the earth is truly looking for is not simply an explanation of love, but an experience of it.

Not theory. Not language. Not concepts.

Encounter.

Many people know about God, but far fewer have actually experienced Him. The apostle Paul the Apostle is one of the clearest examples of this tension. Paul was not content with mere theology. He was not satisfied with intellectual understanding alone. If Paul had only wanted theory, he would have stopped early. But something burned inside of him, a holy dissatisfaction, a refusal to settle for knowing about God when he knew there was more available, something living, relational, and experiential.

This is what drove him to write, pray, and contend the way he did. It is why he prays one of the most profound prayers in all of Scripture, that you would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This is the invitation of Ephesians chapter 3. Not knowledge about love, but a love that goes beyond knowledge.

The same is true for us. So many of us have learned the language of faith. We can explain it, teach it, and defend it. But we have never crossed the threshold into a living, personal, experiential encounter with the Person of Love. And until we do, something in us will remain unsettled, because we were never designed to live on theory alone.

So what is love?

Love is not vague. It is not distant. It is not abstract. Love is deeply personal. Love is to be fully known and still be deeply valued. It is to be seen as you truly are, not as you pretend to be, not as you wish you were, but as you actually are. And after being fully seen, you are still chosen, still desired, still treasured.

This raises a question that cannot be avoided. Do you know love?

Do you know your worth? Do you know your value? Do you know that you are seen, not just your words or your behavior, but your heart? The quiet meditations you carry within you, the hopes you hold for the future, the disappointments you carry from the past, and the anxieties that visit you in the present. God is attentive to all of it. He knows it. He hears it. And He is near to it.

He knows the righteous parts of you and the parts that feel outrageous. The beauty and the brokenness. The strength and the weakness. And after seeing the full mixture of who you are, He still values you.

Your value is not determined by your performance, and your worth is not something you earn. You do not need to look anywhere else to discover what you are worth. Look to the cross. The price that was paid for you was not small, casual, or accidental. You were bought with the life of Jesus Christ, and that price reveals the value heaven has placed on you.

God is leading us into something deeper, not just information, not just theology, not just words on a page, but into the reality that Ephesians describes, a knowledge of love that surpasses knowledge. A love that is not merely understood, but experienced.

This is the shift. From theory to encounter. From information to intimacy. From knowing about God to actually knowing Him.

Because God is not only powerful. He is not only holy. He is not only King. He is also deeply relational. He is near. He is personal. He is love.

And He is not inviting you to study Him from a distance. He is inviting you to experience Him up close, to know Him not just as Creator or Savior, but as the One who sees you, knows you fully, and still chooses you.

So again, the question remains. Do you know love? Not just in theory, but in experience. Not just in words, but in reality.

Hear this clearly. You are seen. You are heard. You are known. You are valued.

Nothing in your life has escaped His attention. Not your thoughts, your desires, your disappointments, or your questions. He has seen it all, and He has not turned away.

You do not have to search tirelessly for affirmation from people. You do not have to strive to be noticed. You do not have to exhaust yourself trying to earn what your heart is longing for.

What you are looking for in others, God freely gives to you by His Spirit.

The love your heart aches for is not distant. It is not withheld. It is not reserved for a future version of you. It is available now.

So stop striving. Come close.

And allow yourself to be loved.