What is Love?
What`s the first thing that you think of when you think of love? Is it a feeling you get when you see someone or a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolate? Maybe a hug or watching a movie together? These are all nice gestures for someone you care for, but it`s only a small part of what it means to love someone. Unfortunately, our culture has distorted the true meaning of love. True love has its roots in the truth and it grows out of that. Our culture has taught us that you should love someone based on what they can do for you and that it`s all about our feelings. Love is not merely a feeling, it`s completely selfless, bound up in the truth, and it reveals itself in our actions.
When I think of Love the first thing that comes to my mind is sacrifice and giving of oneself for the good of others—I think of Jesus Christ as He has given us a beautiful picture of perfect love. We don’t have to look any further for proof that God loves us than Jesus. He is living proof of God`s love for us. As believers, we know for certain that, because of Christ, nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”-Romans 8:38-39.
“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” -C.S. Lewis
Love Is Selfless
Some sad questions to consider are: Why do bad things happen, why do people die, what is the cause of all these wars and the continual downhill destruction? Does love exist in a world so broken? My question in return has always been, Why would God love a sinner like me? Why would God send his only Son to die on a cross for a world that is so steeped in sin? I have continually concluded that the reason is not that human beings are loveable, but because God, though He is Just, He is also loving. God would have been perfectly justified in leaving us to ourselves, without hope, but He chose to rescue us. 1 John 4:7-11 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Love exists in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He showed me what love looks like through His sacrifice for me on the cross. Christ willingly took my place to suffer and die the death that I deserved. There is no greater love than one laying down their life for someone (John 15.13). God loved us so much that He gave His only Son so that we might have a relationship with Him and live (John 3.16). Even though I`m a sinner, God chose to love me by giving me a second chance. Even as a believer, when I fail Him, He extends His grace and His mercy toward me and wants me to keep walking in fellowship with Him. I can learn how to love from His example because the only reason I know how to love others is that He first loved me.
Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
I John 4:17, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
Love Is Rooted In Truth
Loving someone is not always easy. One of the most loving things you can do for someone is to tell them the truth and the truth is not always easy to hear. If you truly care for someone you`ll tell them the truth, even if it means that they may not like you in return for your honesty. God`s word is truth and people need to hear it, no matter how they personally feel about it. True love comes from God`s heart. Love is rooted in the truth, sacrificial, focused on others, and not always based on feelings.
Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” -John 14:6.
Love Reveals Itself In Our Actions
The Bible describes what love should look like in the life of a believer. In 1 Corinthians thirteen, love is described as being patient, kind, not boastful or envious, not arrogant or rude; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love involves humbly serving God and serving others. There`s an excerpt from a hymn called “The Love of God” that beautifully attempts to describe the vast depth of God`s love. It says…
“Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill and everyone a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky…”
At Ethnos360 Bible Institute, we desire to be a part of God`s plan in bringing people from all nations to know Him. We are motivated by the love of Christ and we value having a firm understanding of the Bible. At EBI, you will spend two years studying God`s Word and learning about His heart for all people. Request your free information packet today!
