Math is Love

Today, we’re talking about the holiday that is happening on Monday! You might have heard of it before. It’s the reason why there’s all this heart-shaped stuff and “love”-related items in stores. It’s Valentine’s Day today.

Now how many of you like Math? Good! We will have a math lesson to find out how much God loves us. I want to start with a math question: what equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Have you ever thought about that? We’ve been in situations where we should give over 100%, maybe in a sport’s game or a school project. So what if we can ACHIEVE 101%. Let’s do some math about it.

If we took the alphabet and changed them into numbers, like if “A” is 1, “B” is 2, and continue the pattern. Then we can think about what can equal 100%. Here are some examples:

• Hard Work (H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K) would be 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11, which equals 98%
• Knowledge (K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E) would be 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5, which equals 96%
• Attitude (A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E) would be 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5, which equals 100%

What if we took the love of God into this formula? L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D, which is 12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+14 = 101%

While hard work and knowledge get you close to giving 100, and attitude will get you there, the Love of God will send you over the edge. Join me in Jeremiah 31:3, which says this:

3 the Lord appeared to them from a distance: I have loved you with a love that lasts forever. And so with unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.

Even the Lord was socially distanced, right? …too soon? Okay. We may have heard this type of love called everlasting love. To be everlasting means it will last forever. Everlasting love means that the love that God gives us isn’t going away anytime soon. The love of God stays with us on our good days and our not-so-good days. The love of God stays with us when we’re ready to knock someone out and when we are getting bullied. The love of God sticks with us all the time. Jesus calls us to take that love of God and share that same love with every person we come across in our lives. Our friends, family, neighbors, classmates, enemies, strangers, and everyone else! All people can receive the love of God, but God needs some disciples to show others what that love is. I challenge you this week:

• Make a card.
• Buy some candy hearts.
• Do a kind act to someone you come across this week.

God loves you so much that his love will never go away but gives above and beyond 100%. We’ll see you next week!