God is love. 1 John 4:8
She looked over and there he was. She couldn’t believe when he walked up to her and started talking. It was like they had known each other their whole lives. It truly was love at first sight.
It seems like this is how many love stories start. All you have to do is watch a Hallmark movie and see all the different ways that people “fall in love”. Some who are already in relationships, some who have just broken off relationships, some who least expected and some who wanted it more than ever. It’s just so romantic and all the music and the drama and the views add up to make it so magical.
I googled “what is true love?” This is the answer I got: “…an emotional as well as physical connection with him or her that runs immeasurably deep, and life without your significant other would be practically unthinkable.”
That got me thinking. According to them, true love is based on emotions and physical connection. No wonder marriages fail and divorce rates in the US are at a whopping 39%. Let’s agree on the easy one first, no one can keep their physique forever. So if true love is based on physical appearance and connection, we’re already setting ourselves up for guaranteed, 100% failure. As for emotions, well, emotions change according to so many variables in life. Some days it’s easier to love than others. If I chose to love my spouse based solely on emotions, my emotions would probably get the better of me one day and I’ll be contributing to the astonishing 39% of divorcees.
The problem is this, we’ve tainted what love is and it’s affecting how we see God. 1 John 4:8 says that God is love, but if we don’t even know what love is, how will we know who God is? In the verses right after, John explains true love: “This is real love-not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” This aligns perfectly with what Jesus said in John 15:13: “There is no greater love than to lay one’s life for one’s friends.” And it’s exactly what Jesus did, as He hung on the cross to give us, his friends, freedom.
Love cannot be based on feelings. Feelings come and go. Even the strongest of Christians will tell you of times when it was hard to open their Bible and read, but they pushed on, they opened and they read, because their love for God cannot only be based on how they’re feeling. Same with marriages. People who have been married long enough will tell you that, even through the storms, through the droughts of emotions, they fought on, they kept at it, and somehow the ember that looked like it was fading caught momentum and rekindled the fire.
As we celebrate this month of love, let’s remember the greatest act of love that’s been displayed, and remember that “we love each other because He loved us first” (1 John 4:19). Let us choose the pure and untainted love the Bible shows us and let us change the world with it.
By Sameh Wahba
Elder Said is in Juba in South Sudan to resume the Discipleship Institutes for Sudanese.
Pray for his safety and the safety of everyone attending.
Pray that God will supply all the needs for his trip.
Pray that he will be able to return on time. During his last trip, his PCR test came after his plane left, and he had to stay for an ten extra days which put a big strain on 4G3 budget.
Comments