I love (fill in the blank). From pizza to puppies, movies to music, sand to sandwiches; our world is overflowing with things we “love”. In addition to loving so many things, our world is filled with a longing to be loved individually. Regardless of how many things or how many people we surround ourselves with, that longing for “true love” never seems quenched.
Think back on the wedding scene from the AMAZING movie The Princess Bride. The Priest, standing up proclaiming “Wuv, True Wuv, Will follow you forevah”.
Love will follow us forever. True love. What is true Love? I firmly believe our world has forgotten the meaning of TRUE love, Godly love. Godly love is what lasts forever. Our world fills itself with money, people, possessions, and desires; All these things eventually leave us longing for more. They may appease our emotions for a time, but our souls remain empty.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says this: “Now these three remain:
faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
In John 15:13 Jesus said this before he was arrested:
“Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends.”
While our world is looking for love, it’s looking in all the wrong places. True love according to God’s Word is a love that selflessly sacrifices for the well-being of others. That kind of love only comes from God. As “The Church” we are called to live out this love so the world would know God, and know that God loves them. The world needs to know that God sent His son to die for them. He didn’t send Jesus for one group of exceptional people. He sent Jesus for ALL people.
The church should not be a clique reserved for those that fit a mold, but rather an open reflection of His promise for all. Through the church (by the power of the Holy Spirit) our world can feel the love of God. The TRUE love the world so desperately seeks. Love that truly satisfies and will never fade away.
During this month of love, let us intentionally live our lives in such a way that the world would undoubtedly know the love that is freely offered through the death of Christ Jesus.