I’ve been watching old episodes of Kojak, the 1970s TV crime show featuring actor Telly Savalas as a lollipop sucking, bald detective of Greek heritage working in New York’s Manhattan borough.

His tagline: “Who Loves Ya, Baby?”

Good question. Do you know who loves you? We’re talking really loves you: ride or die, lay it all down for you without hesitation, no thought of payback; will stay through the worst of it.

Suppose I told you I know Someone who knows you intimately and loves you completely with absolutely no ulterior motive?

Yes, knows and loves you.

Not the camera-ready You on Insta and live videos. We’re talking the You with bad skin, bad manners and a maxed out credit card from making bad decisions. Or maybe the button-downed, yet casual freak You. That You with all the faults, failings, bad habits and foul intentions cloaked in the Wall Street suit and wholesome smile.

This Someone knows all that and loves you anyway.

Doesn’t excuse any of it but says: Come as you are. Forgiveness, restoration are available.

I know it doesn’t make any sense. It’s almost unbelievable without a little faith. But it’s true.

This Love faces facts:

You “hit and ran” and have kept on running. You burned through your trust fund. You haven’t made good on that Harvard education. You took financial advantage of a grandparent who trusted you. You lied and let someone else take the fall. You aborted babies because it wasn’t a good time to have children. You blew up your own marriage in a messy divorce while serving as the church marriage counselor.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

And still this Someone says, “I love you” and means it.

What’s the catch? There is no such thing as “something for nothing,” you say. What does this Someone want in return?

Just that you accept the gift of love. Take it. Pass it on. Allow that love to transform you… until you come to know and love the Source.

That’s it. The promise of an authentic everlasting love relationship. And it’s only possible because this Someone is Love personified.

God doesn’t just love as a verb. He is Love.

God’s love prompted Him to give us something we need but don’t deserve.

We were dead in trespasses and sins.

He gave Himself so that we might live.

It’s an old story, a love story.

“For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

He loves you!