Love can be a difficult thing to measure, but I suspect at one time someone said the same thing about heat. How do you measure heat? Perhaps when new technologies were being discovered to measure heat, someone thought, “Measure heat? You can feel it!”

Love works something like that. I don’t suspect we will ever design a device that will measure love, but God has given us the ability “to feel it.” Just as we have a built in system to “feel” varying degrees of heat, so too, God has given us a built in system to experience various degrees of love.

In Luke 7:36-50 we are introduced to a woman whose heart was overflowing with love for Jesus. The measure of her love was so intense that others could feel its presence. Unfortunately, it made some uncomfortable. But I suspect that Simon, (and people like him) who have never really had that kind of love in their hearts could not understand her passion. But Jesus understood it. And many through the church age who have been able to read of this woman’s account have also understood it.

Jesus was not in the least bit offended at the woman’s display of love, and many people have been deeply moved by her story. Her love burned bright, and many have been touched by its heat. No, we cannot measure love like we measure heat. But the truth is that our love for God can burn so bright that others (including God) take notice.

So, I think we can measure love. Our “love temperature” can be clearly gauged by observing those around us. Just as people respond to heat by moving away from it, they too respond to love by moving. Some people move closer because of love. Some (like Simon) move away from it, but love always makes others move. To gauge the “temperature” of our love, all we need to do is look around us. Are people moving?

Hopefully they are moving in the right direction; but even if they are not, let them move still. Perhaps, on a cold day, when they are need of loves warmth, they will remember how those gentle rays settled upon their heart, and longing for its warmth, they will finally move into the full orb of its light.

I hope we all are moving in the direction of God’s love. Never forget, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).