Tag: What Is True Love?

‘And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.’ Romans 5:5-11(NLT)

‘Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 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.’ 1 John 4:7-10(NLT)

‘When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.’ Ephesians 3:14-19(NLT)

‘My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ‘ Galatians 2:20(NLT)

If true love really is the ultimate goal, don’t we want to know what it looks like and how we can attain to it? The question might cross our minds, Can we know true love?

If God is love,

and God commands us to love Him,

and God, by grace, has poured His love out in our hearts through Christ in our salvation,

then we can conclude that the answer is yes—a resounding YES!

We have been given the capacity to know true love, enjoy true love, live in true love, and give true love. If God himself is love, then He is not only our example and standard for love, but He himself is our source as well.

But are there obstacles that might stand in our way?

Unbelief? Hurt? Betrayal? Mistrust? Apathy? Career? Home? Popularity? Fear? Unworthiness? Failure? Think this through today while you are at work, at home, driving . . . then go to the Lord in prayer and share what you discovered. If you don’t feel as though anything is standing in your way, but sense you aren’t as close as you want to be, share that with the Lord as well.

from What Is True Love?

‘But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ‘ 1 John 4:8-9(NLT)

‘Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”’ John 13:35(NLT)

‘“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ‘ Deuteronomy 6:4-5(NLT)

‘The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”’ Luke 10:27-29(NLT)

Love Is the Greatest
‘If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13(NLT)

All of our hearts long for love whether we know it or not. We were literally made to love. God is love. Do you long to know the true love of God? Then do you long to truly love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in return?

But what is true love? The very word takes on so many meanings. We can say in one breath, “I love coffee. I love my spouse. I love Jesus.” How can we know what true love really is? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Does it even matter?

True love is more than a sensation, a feeling, a mission, or even a doctrine. True love is a genuine desire for the well-being of another. True love that brings glory to God is the very purpose of life and the existence of the church.

Some will say that missions is the ultimate goal of the church: “The supreme task of the Church is the evangelization of the world. The mission of the church is missions” (Oswald J. Smith).

Others will say it is worship: “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever” (John Piper).

I suggest to you that love is ultimate and that missions and worship are the outgrowth of that love. God commands His people to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. Jesus reiterates this, telling us that the first and greatest commandment is that we are to love the Lord our God with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, ALL of our mind, and ALL of our strength. ALL meaning ALL. Later He tells us that all men will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another. Then Paul explains in his letter to the Corinthians that faith, hope, and love are all lasting virtues, but the greatest of these three is love. According to God, Jesus, and Paul love appears to be the ultimate goal for us and therefore the church.

from What Is True Love?