Remembering True Love, By Sarah P.

Remembering True Love

By Sarah P.

Valentine’s Day is a day that girls everywhere either look forward to or dread. It seems to suggest thoughts of guys, chocolates, roses, and those cute little teddy bears. Valentine’s Day is all about love.

Or is it?

I’ve been wondering about this question lately. We should all remember what true love is, but over time society pushes in other ideas. Some of us have settled down into believing these lies. Maybe we need to step back and look at what love really is. What’s the easiest way to do that? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.   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. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."

-1 Corinthians 13:1-8, (ESV)

If you’re anything like me, you tend to “zone out” after about the first sentence or so. I mean, who hasn’t heard of this scripture before? But that’s not a reason to brush it off. If you didn’t really read it, please go back and do so!

Okay, now let’s break these verses down.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

What this is saying is that love is really important. I can know everything, I can do all sorts of miracles, I can have a ton of faith, and I can give everything I have away-even my life-but without love...

I'm nothing.

What? Nothing? You might think, but surely all of that other stuff is worth something, even without love. How important can love be?

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." -1 John 4:16*, (emphasis mine)

God is love. So, love is more than important, it's necessary. 

As human beings, we are made to love. We are made to love God, to have a strong relationship with Him, and to love those around us. Well, you might think, it should be pretty easy to love people, right? If we're made to do it, and it's necessary, then it should be just as easy as doing anything else.

That's not true. If love was what society says it is, then it would be easy. It would involve no risk. It wouldn’t take up all of your time or energy. It would be there when you found it convenient and ignorable when you were busy. It would be just emotions, hugs, and possibly chocolate. As selfish humans, that might seem desirable.  But look at what the rest of the passage says:

"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. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."

Real love is hard. It's not easy. It's hard. Do you find it hard to be patient and kind?  Is it a struggle not to envy other people’s talents and possessions? Is it hard to avoid boasting and being arrogant? Is it difficult not to act rudely? Do you find it hard to not insist on having your own way or being irritable when something doesn't go like you want it to? Those are just a few of the attributes of love. I don't know about you, but I could spend my whole life working on those eight and still not get it right!

Here's another point: Love never ends. Today's culture makes it seem okay to just "move on" if a relationship doesn't work out. Hey, it's not like there aren't plenty of people to love, right? But here's the truth: love doesn't end. God doesn't have an end, and true love doesn’t either. Love is eternal. It’s not something that you can just “move on” from because true love lasts forever. 

Does that seem too hard? It’s definitely impossible without God, but I’m certainly glad that God didn’t find it too hard to love us! Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” John 3:16 is even clearer, “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” It wasn’t easy for Jesus to love us. It was really hard for Him to love us enough to die for us. This shows that love isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

This Valentine’s Day, whether you’re smiling at your boyfriend or eating a box of chocolates by yourself, take the time to remember what true love really is. Rememberwho love really is: Jesus!

*Note: All scriptures are taken from the New Living Translation unless otherwise specified.

In Christ,

Sarah