Looking For Love

Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:12-13

I think we've all seen the t-shirts, steering wheel covers, and other items emblazoned with the script, "Love Kills Slowly."  Humans have a low view of love, mostly using the word to describe a romantic passion between a man and a woman.  The pattern of this world is that I give my heart to a man. Inevitably the man will hurt me and I will die a little each time until the final blow comes when that "love" leaves me for another.  Then the process starts over, killing me slowly over time.  But if we want to know what real love is, we must look to God because God is love!  (1 John 4:8)

Undying  God's brand of love does not tear us down and kill us over time because His kind of love is perfect and holy.  Real love is not a feeling, but an unselfish concern for others and, ". . . love builds up." (I Corinthians 8:1)  When we try to love, or be loved, the human way, we will always be disappointed.  God, however, will never let us down in this same way.  I can trust Him with my heart!  The Apostle Paul understood this kind of love as evidenced by the following . "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)  God's love can be counted on!

Sacrificial  Love involves some kind of personal sacrifice because, by definition, it is other-centered.  When we love someone as Christ has loved us, that means we do whatever is in their best interest.  That could mean risking my life by running into a burning building to save a stranger, or to take the time to help my husband even when I have a million other things to do. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by taking the punishment for our sins when He died on the cross so that our relationship with God could be restored.  

Servant-like Loving others the way God loves us means we will get dirty.  Before Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples, he performed an extraordinary act. He removed his outer garments, bent down on the floor, and washed his friends' feet.  During this time period, washing one's feet was a lowly task left to the servants.  But Jesus demonstrated a servant's heart in his willingness to lower himself to perform this act of love.

Do I look for love in all the wrong places?  I need look no further than God, who will completely fulfill my need for love, freeing me to love others the way He loves me.

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can love others as God has loved me. 

Where am I stingy with my time, resources and talents?

How do I elevate my desires above the needs of those God has placed around me?