With Valentine’s Day, love is in the air. You see pink and red everywhere. Roses and candy abound. But with all of this “love” present, today I wanted to explore true love found only in God.
God is Love
1 John 4:7-8 speaks about love. It 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.” Let’s focus first on the last phrase, “God is love.” The essence of God is love. However, it is not the only attribute to describe Him. God is much more dynamic and complicated than one word. Honestly, we overuse the word love in our everyday language. We loved the movie. He loves to travel. I love ice cream. The meaning of love has diminished from overuse.
So what does love really mean? The word used in 1 John 4 for love is the Ancient Greek word, agape. Agape love is a special kind of love that is unconditional. We will explore what depths of agape love God has for us, but first let’s turn back to the 1 John verse. From there, we also learn that “love is from God.” And just a few verses down to verse 19, we learn that, “We love because he first loved us.” To review, God is love and love is from Him. If we agape love anyone, which doesn’t come naturally, then that comes from God. Apape love is a supernatural love just like God.
Agape Love in Action
As promised, let’s continue our discussion on God’s agape love for us. He loves the ungodly and unloveable because it is who He is. “Agape love is always shown by what it does (Got Questions).” So what did He do? Well, let’s briefly look at two verses. The first most of the world knows. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” His love for the world prompted Him to give His only Son. But why how did He give His Son? God is Holy, perfect, and righteous. Therefore, He cannot be with sin. Since sin entered the world in Genesis 3, all humans are sinners. We disobey God. We fall short of His glory. However, God loves us so much that He made a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to Him. That way is Jesus Christ, His Son.
Jesus left the glories of Heaven to be born a baby. He lived a perfect life because He is God showing us how to live. He died a cruel death on the cross and paid the price for sin once and for all. Three days later, God rose Him from the dead defeating Satan and death. Ephesians 2:4-5, the second verse I want to highlight, describes what happened, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Here we again see the great love God has for His people. We also see sinners needing a Savior being made alive with Christ. And the verse ends, reminding us that salvation is a gift of grace, not something that we deserve or earn. Jesus’ entire life (and death) on earth was agape love in action.
Love is Patient
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is often quoted at wedding ceremonies. It begins with “Love is patient.” God is patient. He is long-suffering. I am so grateful for this characteristic of God. He has every right as a Holy God to smite me a lowly sinner. I sin against Him every day even though I don’t want to. And yet because He is rich in mercy and agape love, He patiently waits for us to realize that we need Him to save us. He postpones our deserved punishment giving us a chance to believe in and obey Him. However, no one knows how long each of us has to live. We are not guaranteed a long life. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. So, don’t wait to turn to God in repentance and faith. “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” We will all die a physical death, but you don’t have to perish spiritually. You can live with God forever.
Trust what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Confess that you are a sinner in need of His agape love. Believe in your the depths of your heart. And a great test to see if you are saved is if you start agape loving others. Do you love those who are hard to love? John 13:35 says, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” What a challenging verse!
This Valentine’s Day reflect on the true love found only in God. It is so much better than puppy love or infatuation. This love is better than brotherly love. It is even better than romantic love between a husband and wife. It is love that never fails.