' we love because he loved us first'. John

True love is I believe the closest that we can come in this life to experiencing God in the 'raw' we are allowed to touch the face of God to experience in the midst of the mortal the promise held by the eternity to come. Love is the strongest theme in the New Testament whilst interestingly, in my opinion, pretty absent from the Old Testament . The point is hammered again and again ' love your neighbour' ' love never fails' ' the greatest of these is love' ' love one another as I love you' and of course the greatest act of love of all ' God so loved the world that he gave his son' . Many of us choose the false love of power, possessions , money but the true test to determine real love is ask is this love timeless ? Does it come from the heart and ask nothing in return ? Is it selfless containing its own dynamic and needs no additional support? does it only seek joy and spiritual?

In the life of Jesus we see Gods demonstration of real love held up before our eyes healing the sick, forgiveness, compassion for all everything that arises from true love. Finally the greatest love of all sacrificing his son on the cross not for gain but in order to save man from his sins. In spite of the fact that Jesus hung on the cross because of man and in spite of the knowledge that man would continue to sin even after the sacrifice had been made.

This is why I think Jesus dwells on the sanctity of marriage. I believe that through the love of two people God has created a forum where we can judge the merits of his word. As I have written before I think one of the greatest sign posts to faith is the ability that we have been given to experience in this world through our actions the will of God as written In the gospels. Love is Gods will in action.