Perfect Love

February is mostly known as a month to celebrate love. Valentine’s Day is a hallmark holiday in which most people identify as a day to reflect on love. In its origins, it was known as a Christian day of celebration; honoring the martyr named St. Valentine of the third century. It later developed into a folk tradition and has become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of love and romance in many regions of the world. At least that is its origins.

It been said, “Love is overrated”, or “Love is for losers”. It seems that some people are down on love or they do not have a good view of it. This doesn’t surprise me in the culture in which we live. Many people have either been disappointed or hurt when it comes to experiencing love. On top of that, the idea of love is thrown about very carelessly. We say, “I love chocolate”, or “I love shopping” in the same way we say, “I love my spouse” or “I love my children”. In an environment where we use the term ‘love’ so frequent and haphazardly, it is any wonder many people have a hard time knowing what love really is?

Love also seems to be disposable in our age. We say we ‘love’ one another, but our relationships with others cannot seem to weather the trials that often come in life. People are more self-serving today than ever before. We look to what we want without much regard to the needs of others and that pertains to the people who we are close to, let alone the people who are strangers. The issue isn’t that the trials have become more difficult or more frequent but the endurance of our love is not what it is intended to be. In short, people do not know what true love is supposed to be.

Well, the Lord offers us all the perfect illustration of love in his Word. In short, love sacrifices and it gives. Out of 1 Corinthians 13, we know that
Love is tolerant and caring. It is not jealous and does not brag nor is it proud. Love does not dishonor others and is not egotistical or easily provoked. It keeps no account of injustices nor does it delight in evil. Instead, love rejoices with the truth. It always looks to protect, trust, hope, and endures.

With these attributes in mind, the image of love is clearly seen in God. He is the very essence of love. God is gracious and generous. He is longsuffering and forgiving. He has sacrificed so much so that we can have abundant life now and life everlasting. In 1 John 4:9-10, the Bible affirms that;
9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God gave us the model for love so that we, in turn, would show love for him and to each other. Imagine, the divorce becoming a thing of the past. Envision the crime rate fading to zero. Fancy the idea of assaults and killings declining to zilch. Well, when people are busy loving; there is no room for hate, bitterness, selfishness or pride.

So as we celebrate ‘love’ this February and throughout the year, I pray that we will put love in the perspective of the one who perfected love. It is the Lord that calls us to the greater understanding of love and when we understand and practice true love, it is then we can experience love the way God intended.