Made for More: 30 Days of Experiencing More Life, Love, and FreedomSample

Day 12: The Greatest Love Story

I was 25 when I met my wife. I didn’t know she would be my wife at the time but suffice to say, when I shook her hand, something began to happen. Over the next weeks and months, we spent more and more time together, and something continued to happen. We often call it, “falling in love.” That’s a great phrase for it. Like a gravitational force on our hearts, we step off a ledge, sometimes willingly, sometimes pushed, either way, it feels like something we can neither stop or control. Over time, it grows, deepens; it can hurt, and it can bring such joy. Love certainly feels like something. It is both fragile and powerful. Love requires attention and care, even intention. 35 years later, I’m still in it, and the pages of this particular romance that started July 3, 1989… they continue.

Love is the greatest force in all creation—the heartbeat of the cosmos and the core of our very existence.

We were made by Love and for love. 1st John 4 tells us that God is love, not just that He loves, but that it is His very nature. That means everything He does flows out of love, and everything we need most is found in a loving relationship with Him. We were designed for intimacy with God—not merely obedience, service, or performance, but a deep, personal, and transformative connection. That’s what love does. When we live from that place—knowing we are incomparably valued, affectionately pursued, and unconditionally loved—everything changes. Our greatest need isn’t to work harder or prove ourselves; our greatest need is to be loved and to be invited to learn how to love in return.

Many of us have heard the phrase, “Love is not a feeling; it’s a decision.” While it’s true that love often includes sacrifice and commitment, we weren’t meant to live in relationships fueled solely by duty. We were meant to be moved by delight. Think of your closest relationships—your spouse, your children, your dearest friends. When love is vibrant and mutual, service flows naturally. It doesn’t feel like an obligation. It feels like an honor, a privilege; it feels like joy.

The same is true with God. He didn’t create us to perform for Him—He created us to walk with Him. To know Him. To be loved by Him and respond in kind. Yes, Jesus’ death on the cross was a legal declaration of His love—a covenant made in sacrifice, an adoption paper signed and sealed by a crown of thorns. But it wasn’t just about legality; it was about intimacy. God didn’t just want to save us—He wanted to lovingly be with us and us with Him. Every day. In every way.

This is the sacred romance. The divine pursuit. The Lover of our souls has gone to the greatest lengths to reclaim us—not because God somehow needs us, but because He wants us, and deep in our hearts we want Him, we need Him. And it makes sense, we are a part of Him, like a child is part of his father and mother, we are made in His image, bearing the DNA of the Trinity.

When I was a boy, and I would be around my extended family, my aunts and uncles and great aunts and great uncles, my grandparents, they all would often say, “You look just like your dad when he was a boy.” I remember those comments, they made me feel something. I held them with an honor and an appreciation that a 6 year old could. It made me feel good, loved, and especially like I was a part of something, in reality, I was a part of someone. God longs for you to know you are the Beloved. And when you begin to truly receive His love—not just theologically, but experientially (zoe)—it will change how you see yourself, how you live, and how you will love others.

There is a great love story behind every epic story. And this is ours, the great romance, the pursuit of God to love us back to life. It’s a good story and it has more for us than we could possibly imagine.

Will you turn the page?

As you reflect on all this with God today, consider asking Him:

When did your love relationship with God start? Where and how did the Trinity find you, woo your heart to theirs, and begin your sacred romance?

How has God been loving you lately? In what ways or circumstances or events in your life is God showing you and telling you, I love you?

Father, is there one phrase or sentence that feels like it’s just for me today? Would You help me hear it clearly and understand why it matters?