DEVOTION//Slippery and intangible

"Love is a slippery and intangible thing."

Celeste Ng wrote that in an article for the New York Times (April 8, 2021). Her point was that often love is disguised. Love, she pointed out, is concealed behind a parent's over-the-top "care packages" for their children who are away at college or a parent's insistence that their adult children must sit down and eat something.

"Love is a slippery and intangible thing."

God's love can seem slippery and intangible. Think of his painful reminders that, when we don't do life his way, we run into difficulties. Think of the unknowable times he allowed us to be late for an appointment so we would not be at an intersection at the wrong moment. Think of the hard-to-love people he has allowed into our lives so we would learn to love others as he has loved us.

But the way God has guaranteed his love for us takes it out of the realm of slippery and intangible. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

No matter how slippery and intangible God's expression of love for us can seem, Jesus' resurrection guarantees his love is always boldly and mercifully active in our lives. Forget about all evidence to the contrary. His love must make everything work for our benefit (Romans 8:28). His love is always sheltering and providing for us (Psalm 18:2). His love will never fail us (Psalm 73:26).

In the empty tomb, we have infinite reasons to trust God's love -- even when it's disguised.