LOVE’S STANDARD



In 1984 the band Foreigner came out with a favorite song of mine and a #1 worldwide hit called “I Want To Know What Love Is” written by band member Mick Jones. Mick claims the song transcended him when he said, “I consider it a gift that was sent through me. I think there was something bigger than me behind it. I’d say it was probably written by a higher force.”  There is no doubt that God has defined and set the standard for what love is.

Real love is not defined by what a person does, but by what God has done. In fact to steal from another song title, people search for love in all the wrong places. It is through God alone that we know what love is. In 1 John 4:9 we are told, “God showed how much he loved us…” This is an important characteristic of love that should not be overlooked. Sometimes we say, “I love people, I’m just not good at showing it. I’m just not good at saying it.” Well get over it! You need to get good at it. Your words must be consistent with your actions. You need to learn to tell people with words and show people with actions that you love them.

In God we see what real love is, It is a sacrificial 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 4:9-10)

God’s love cost him something. It cost him everything. He gave up his Son, and his Son gave up his own life in order that we could experience forgiveness of sin and inherit eternal life. This was the only way it could be done. Why did it have to be this way? If God is God, why couldn’t he just say “Everyone is forgiven” without the need of the death of Jesus? It’s because of God’s nature. He must be consistent with himself. God is holy and just. Therefore, sin must be dealt with. But God is also merciful and compassionate. Therefore, sin will be dealt with according to his generous and loving nature. We couldn’t save ourselves, so he gave his Son to save us. He paid a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. Real love sacrifices for the one who is loved.

When you chose your spouse you chose someone worthy of your love. Right? You certainly didn’t seek out someone whom you knew in advance to be unfaithful, dishonest, manipulative, cruel, selfish, and uncaring. You married the best person you could find. That’s not how Christ chose his bride. He didn’t choose to love only the best, he chose to love the worst. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8-9)

We don’t receive God’s love because we are worthy. We’ll never be worthy. We receive God’s love because he is loving and he loves us even when we are unloving. For those who want to know what love is, this is the example we must follow in loving others. We are to love those who are sometimes unlovable. Just like God loves us. God sets the standard for what love is.

Comments

  1. Emily ShoretteFebruary 6, 2017 at 5:09 PM

    If you have a minute, I’d really appreciate it if you took a look at Emily’s Virtual Rocket. This is a serious newsblog which has been taken from e-newspapers and e-magazines from around the world, with an emphasis on transgender issues. Also, with his election, I look for articles which critique Donald Trump.

    I hope you enjoy this. Please paste the following:

    Emilysvirtualrocket.blogspot.com

    To comment:

    thoreaugreen@gmail.com

    Emily

    ReplyDelete

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