- Mirage
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We remember the song the Beatles sang “All you need is love….. Love is all you need.” If you search for books with love in the title on Amazon you will find around 250,000. If you search the internet for websites with the keyword love in them, you will find 121,000,000 different sites. Love is something that is important to every single one of us. The problem is that love has become a very confusing subject.
What is love? When looking for the definition of love we must understand that love is God defined. 1 John 4:7-10 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Lust is the desire to fulfill a need inside of you. Infatuation is being overcome with feelings for someone. Infatuation, while in and of itself is not wrong, can take over your life. You may miss important opportunities or alienate people you love if this happens. You also begin to make this person your object of worship, an idol. When you make a person the only thing you care about you make them a god in your life.
Love is not the feeling of butterflies you get in the pit of your stomach when a certain someone looks your way and smiles. Love is not the long walks on the beach or the horseback riding through the forest. Love is not hearing the birds sing whenever you speak to your beloved. This is what the culture believes love is.
The problem with the world’s love is that it is selfish. Real love is the enemy of selfishness.
God defines love.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is not about how it makes you feel or how it serves you. When you have true love it is about doing things for the sake of others. Making the decisions that make you uncomfortable, or hurts you for the better of that person. Putting your wants and needs aside. It’s about doing what’s best for that person.
Love is an action, not emotion. Love is a sacrifice. Love is doing something for someone even though they may not know they need it or even want it. Just like when Jesus died on the cross. So many reject His love, but what He did on the cross is exactly what our love life should be.
Don’t get it twisted. Love is not god. No, God is love defined: God is patient and kind; God does not envy or boast; God is not arrogant or rude. God does not insist on His own way; God is not irritable or resentful; God does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never ends.
In Christ,
Pastor Phil