What does love mean in our society today? Affection, emotion, family, feelings, romance, relationships, sex, friendship, brotherhood; these are all words associated with love. Love songs, chick flicks, and romance novels are always trying to tack on another meaning, make it more appealing to the general public (like it really needs any extra zest, yeesh). If you look it up on Wikipedia or dictionary.com you'll get a variety of explanations.
If you google it, you get "The Love Calculator," where you type in your name and someone else's and receive a 'prophecy' about the likelihood of your future together being a good or bad one. You go looking for pictures of 'love' online and you get all sorts of hearts and couples of every sexual orientation kissing, people standing together on beaches, babies swaddled in commercialized blankets, anything sexual that can be romantically bent, and of course, wedding paraphernalia.
The problem is with all these versions of 'love' is that they all fall short and eventually disappoint. They're temporary, they're flawed, they're substitutions, they're selfish. They are all reliant on human power, which always comes to an end.
The Bible's definition of love differs from society's pop culture debauchery of the word. Romans 8 says that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. First Corinthians 13 says that love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Ephesians 3 says that the love of Yeshue is so great you will never fully understand it. II Corinthians 9 calls it an indescribable gift.
I don't know about you, dear reader, but none of those sound at all close to the world's definition to me. Those are not speaking of any love that is tied to image and worth and selfish desires.
The greatest lie we are led to believe is that we can find real Love outside of Yeshua.
His love isn't human. It's unfathomable. It's everything.
Even the apostle Paul, who was well educated and eloquent, could not articulate the idea of God's love. He calls it indescribable, beyond words.
The thing people have trouble understanding about this Love, the reason it is so inexpressible and beyond human terminology, is that it is unselfish. It is undeserved. God loves us for no reason at all.
Love is a gift. We couldn't be separated from God's Love is we tried, and honestly, most of us have. First John 4 tells us that God is Love. It is His very nature and He could never stop being who He is.
Love is a gift that we as humans so often forget to give. So share a little, be a little, live a little. Life is nothing without Love, and we are nothing without life. And God IS Love. So believe, all ye of little faith. Believe that you are loved, and show love to those who are alone.
