True Love

True Love....
An odd concept, and yet one that enamors human minds to no end. Many know the phrase, but few understand what love is really about. Let me give you my humble insight, what I've learned in my relatively short life. I'm not done learning, I'll be a student of love until the day I die, and on into eternity, if The Bible is true in what it says about God's love... But we'll get to that.


C.S. Lewis said once: "Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the other person's good as far as it can be obtained."

I think Mr. Lewis was on to something. Being an avid student of the Bible as he was, I cannot help but think that 1 Corinthians 13 was on his mind when he said this.
I won't reiterate the entire chapter, but I'll use parts of it later on.

But first, let's discuss what others think of love. Many do think that it is just an affectionate feeling, or a passing fancy, something that comes and goes with time.

But fantasy of the traditional sort, the type that involves true courage, real virtue, emphatic ties to good morality, and a concept of love that many discount because "fantasy" is the genre.

What is the most traditional fantasy story? I daresay, the knight rescuing the princess is the cliche of the century. But why? Why would a knight risk everything, often going up against a dragon or equal monstrosity to save the fair maiden? True love... Maybe?

But the love the Bible speaks of isn't even that, it is stronger, wider, longer, and more amazing than any other thing in this world.

C.S. Lewis has another pertinent quote: "He [God] didn't love us because we were lovable, but because He is love."
So, a new dimension, if God is love, than it is only through Him that we know it, and because of Him that we can show it, it is a part of His image in us, His creations.

A dear friend, mentor, and wonderful expositor of God's Word said this about love: "Love is giving whatever I have, that you need, because God wants me to."

Sounds like Lewis right? That is because they both draw from the same source. We can know True Love, because God showed us True Love.
Christ Jesus, gave everything... Let me say that again, Christ Jesus gave everything to save us. His divinity, gone when He took human form, His power, He refused to draw on it to save Himself from the cross, His majesty, shown only once outside of His signs to three disciples. He even gave His life... The Author of Life, had to die to save humanity.
Jesus said this Himself in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Jesus did that same thing, but for His enemies.We, who were enemies of God, rebels to His will, were made as sons, and loved with the Ultimate Love, the Love of God.

So that is Ultimate Love, and that is how we get True Love, but where do we go from there? How do we show this kind of love?
By giving anything of ourselves, anything for the sake of another. What could drive a man to fight incalculable odds to save someone else, even at the cost of his own life? Simply, True Love, not the wordly kind, not the fading kind, but real, True Love.

How do we learn this love?

By befriending other people. Mike Donehey, the lead singer of the band Tenth Avenue North said this: "What better way to learn to love like God loves, than to be put into situations where we have to love those who don't deserve it?"

There you have it, True Love is giving anything to love someone who may not deserve your love, but you choose to give it anyway. Love is a choice, True Love is a commitment. And while we are on this earth, we are called to love like God does, and His Word teaches us how to do this, but we must choose to do it, it isn't easy, not at all, and you will get hurt sometimes. Love is hard, but it is worth it, whether you are loving your friends that God has given you, or your wife and family that God has given you responsibility for, or even your enemies, the Love is the same. And the reward is inexpressible in my meager words.

1 Corinthians 13:7 "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Undeservingly Loved By The Father,
--The Scribe





"To Write the Love, of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky."