Real Love...

Here’s a riddle: What is greater than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you’ll die. What is it? Nothing. Imagine if you could speak all the languages in the world. What would you do with it? You would be in high demand. Would you work for the government or some private company? What if you made millions of dollars from this, and you became a philanthropist. What charities or causes would you distribute the donations? What if, because of your riches, fame, and ability, you were able to learn all of God’s secrets and knowledge? What would you do with it? If you knew everything God knows you’d have the faith to move mountains, right? What would you move first? Heal the sick? Feed the hungry? Rescue the homeless? Cure cancer? Here’s another riddle: what does God do that the devil can’t, it’s easier for the poor to do than the rich, it doesn’t cost anything, but when it’s taken away it costs everything, and joy comes more from it when you give it away than when you try to take it? LOVE. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that if you can do all the things mentioned above, and yet not love, your life is wasted. It would be nothing, just a lot of noise signifying nothing. You would have gained nothing. Of all the virtues in the world, Love is the greatest. In English the concept of love has one word, but in the Greek language it has 4 translations. A Godly love, a brotherly love, a parental love, and a tender affectionate love. Did you know that God designed the family, a mom and dad with children to incorporate all of these. It’s the only institution that fulfills His design. When you take God out of this equation, all the definitions fall apart. They can’t stand on their own. It changes the meaning. Love is what holds all things together. It’s the essence of God. When I read the definition of love from the Bible, I get the sense that it’s just like the 10 Commandments. It shows us how short we fall when it comes to really loving others. It shows us that we need to plug into God in order to get the love only He can give, so we can give to others what we don’t possess on our own. It shows us how far we still need to strive in order to love life Jesus lives us. As I look at the world and see its many definitions of love, I begin to wonder where they get their ideas from. If people only knew the One in which true love resides, there wouldn’t be so much confusion. Little children confused over why their parents divorced. Certain segments of society confusing love with acceptance. People constantly saying, “love is love”. Love is not a feeling or emotion. It’s not something that always comes at first sight. It’s not even a heart-shaped box filled with chocolates. Love is a choice. It’s an action. It’s an act of the will regardless of the cost. Love is God. And God gave us His One and Only Son, to atone for our sin. And when we receive it by faith, we are given the ability to truly love. Why? Because we learn what true love really is. We learn from its Origin. We are plugged into its Source. It teaches, instructs, and empowers us with the ability to look beyond ourselves and see the needs of others, then gives us the gumption to carry that plan out. Without God, we don’t have the ability to truly love the way we are intended to. One last thing Love does for us; it drives out fear. It overcomes and conquers fear, temporarily or permanently. The next time you think of the concept of love, and you leave God out of the equation, you’re not talking about real love. You’re talking about a feeling or emotion that lacks love’s true source. If nothing is greater than God, and God is love, and Love is the greatest of all, what should we be pursuing? What should we base our lives on? What should we be doing to our neighbor? Three things will last forever, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love. I think this makes our priorities loud and clear. Is it in you?

1 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. 2 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. 3 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.4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy 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.13 Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13