The Hunger Games

During Spring Break, I read all three books in the Hunger Games series. I'm obsessed with them! The story of a future world in which the evil Capitol keeps all the districts under its control by sending children into an arena to fight to the death is intriguing. There's plenty of action, suspense, and bravery. But what really makes it good is the love story. When Katniss and Peeta are sent into the arena against 22 other children, Peeta is determined to protect her, to die for her, because he loves her. His love is the kind I love to read about in books- it's brave, sacrificial, unconditional love. He wants what's best for her no matter what that means for him. I love it, but it also makes me a little depressed. Because it's so unrealistic. What guy would really do that? What man would be willing to die for a girl who didn't even know him? What person would sacrifice everything for the one he loves, even if they didn't love him back?

Then it hit me. There is a love story like this. It's real, and I know because it happened to me. There is someone who loved me long before I even knew who he was. There was someone willing to die for me long before I loved him back. There was someone who wanted to protect me from a fate worse than death. He was willing to suffer, to be tortured, to be charged with crimes he didn't commit, and ultimately to die a horrible death. It didn't matter if I loved him yet or not. He loved me.

Of course I'm talking about the only person capable of that kind of love- Jesus. There are so many love stories that contain pieces of this kind of perfect love. I think that's why I love to read them- because I want a love like that. What I need to realize is that I already have it. And it isn't obtainable through anyone else but Jesus. Love stories are great because they can remind us of the greatest love story of all. Every time we read about a love that's selfless and pure and good and abundant, it should remind us of the only One who can display that kind of love. There's a reason people are riveted by anything that comes close to describing a love like that. It's what we all desperately desire, yet we can only find it in one place.

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:17-19)

"The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness'" (Jeremiah 31:3).

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10).