God's love for us is not described by how he felt, but by what he did.

Contrary to popular views, love is not something that just happens or something you fall into. The young married couple whose love for each other is nothing more than feelings should not be surprised when their love disappears from their relationship as suddenly as it appeared. The person who measures his or her love for another based on the emotions of the moment will inevitably experience how fickle emotions can be and how they can change whether we want them to or not.

Genuine love is not a feeling. Genuine love—whether it's the love between husband and wife, between parent and child, or between close friends—is a commitment to action. It is a sacrificing commitment that says, "I am going to make the other person's needs more important than my own, and I am ready to do what it takes to meet those needs." No wonder, when God defined the love that husbands are to have for their wives, that God said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). No wonder that God's love for us is not described by how he felt, but by what he did: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16).

Jesus certainly spent his entire ministry showing and demonstrating the genuine love that he had for people. He showed his love for them by doing. He provided food for hungry crowds. He healed their diseases. He restored sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk, and restored deceased family members to life. He patiently taught his disciples. He called sinners to repent and turn from their sins.

But those acts of love were only a small glimpse of the kind of love that Jesus had for sinners. As he prepared to go to Jerusalem for the last time, he was fully aware of what was waiting for him. "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love" (John 13:1).

He knew it, and he told his disciples what to expect. He was about to show them the full extent of his love—a love that would move him to endure ridicule; shame; rejection; searing pain; and finally, the torturous death on the cross. The full extent of his love was seen in all of its splendor when he willingly took on himself the punishment for the sins of the world. The full extent of his love was demonstrated in his cries of pure agony when he shouted from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).