This Is Love

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (I John 4:7-11 NIV)

Love is in the air and on our minds this day, as it is every Valentine’s Day. There will be cards and flowers given, and candlelight dinners shared, in the manner we are told expresses love.  What I find interesting about this passage is how brazen it is in its assumption that we don’t know what love is.  

As it was in the 1st Century, so it is today that our understanding of love is shaped by our culture.  We, like our ancestors, take our cues on love from what we see from the society in which we live.  And what we see is too often a love that is self-centered and based on how we feel.  It is a love that puts the self first (“what am I getting out of it?”) and whose motivation is driven mainly by feelings.  In other words, we will love if we are assured we will receive something in return and will feel good in the process.  

This is not true love because its definition is grounded in our own understanding.  John reminds us, however, that love is from God and He defines it.  So if we are looking to understand love, then we must look to Him.  And what we see will be very different than what we are told by marketers and songwriters.

God’s love is selfless—He loved us while we were still rebelling against Him and telling Him to stay out of our lives.  Even when His Son was rejected, He allowed Him to die in order that we might be saved.  Thus, God’s love is not intimidated or thwarted by rejection.  He keeps on loving regardless if He receives nothing in return.  

This is love and the world will take notice if it sees it in us.  Today, remember to look to God to see what love truly is.  Otherwise, you will never know. 

© Jim Musser 2013