“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
—    Romans 8:37-39

An early 1980s R&B singer by the name of El Debarge sang a song that shot up the charts, and the lyrics simply said, “Love me in a special way, what more can I say, love me now.”
The simple fact is, everyone enjoys knowing that somebody loves them. It’s a warm and comforting feeling of security, joy and confidence all wrapped up in one. Those who deal in the field of psychology will tell you about millions of cases involving people who suffered serious mental issues because they felt nobody loved them. People who are in love seem to change in various ways.
Old folk use to say, “She’s got your nose wide open,” which means someone is so in love that he or she would drop or do anything to please a partner.
Love causes us to chase people we know are not good for us. Love causes us to do harmful things to our bodies just to keep another person’s interest. Love causes Christians to live in sin while saying, “It’s OK — God knows my heart.”
Love is strong, powerful, determined and mind-blowing. I was raised in a house with six brothers and sister. A time came, in my emotional early teenage years, when I felt like nobody loved me. I devised a plan to run away, and I thought that would make things better. But I’m so glad I had a mother who prayed, sat me down and helped me to understand what real love is all about. She taught me that God is love. And whenever I don’t feel loved by people, I know that God loves me.
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It’s amazing that Jesus Christ would give his life, not for what I am right now, but for the potential of what I might become.”
—    Romans 5:8

Augustine once wrote, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”
God’s love is real, selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. In other words, it comes with no strings attached. Real love.

Hayes is the pastor of New Day Community Church and the president of the United Ministerial Alliance.