The Right Response 6

1 John 3:16 NIV

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

It appears to me that there is a strong emphasis on love these past few days. There have been many versions flying about,,many of them fake, false or manufactured by man for his own selfish desires. Many variations of love have now been mistaken for love: infatuation, lust, inordinate sexual appetite, incest, sodomy and similar abnormalities have been described as love; in fact,the act of sex itself has been described as 'making love' in some instances. Can something that looks so simple be this complex and misunderstood?

One lesson must be established from the outset: love can never be truly or fully interpreted or explained or understood outside of God. There's a fundamental foundation to love that is rooted in Christ because love has always been defined in the Bible from God's perspective, not man's. Love has always been understood on the basis of the identity and sacrifice of Christ, not what man has done or can do. That is why true love here is seen as the sacrifice of Christ, who died for us, not because we had earned or deserved it, but because it is his nature to love like that. He did not wait for us to love him first, or to be deserving of that love; He didn't do it because there was a financial or emotional gain to benefit; He did it for us freely and fully, just because He loved us.

We just must examine our hearts today from this perspective: do we truly love for no reason or do we build relationships on the basis of what we stand to gain? Are we waiting for people to show themselves worthy of our love before we show them love? Do we love like Christ- sacrificially, totally and absolutely, expecting nothing in return while giving your best, or do we wait for convenience and comfort  before we can show love to others? Remember, if it is not love as defined by the owner- Love himself, then it is not love. His time of favour is here.