What is Love?

Dear diary,

What is love? And I’m not talking about the 1993 Haddaway song. What is the four-letter word that we’ve heard so much about? According to Corinthians 13, love is patient, kind, non-envious, non-prideful, non-boastful, and so many other things we already think we are. But when we think about love from a practical perspective, it can take on a different look. Love looks like not getting upset when someone is taking a while to understand your point. Or love looks like apologizing when you didn’t think you were wrong but offended your partner. When we have this kind of love produced in our lives, we open ourselves up to a world that God desires for us. But where this pure kind of love exists, the opposite also follows closely behind. 

The Wrong Love Will Make You Crazy 

Though the euphoric kind of love I described above is ideal, I think we all have heard (or experienced!) stories about crazy love: keying the car, stalking, and other very toxic activities. Though we may not have experienced all of those extremes, we’ve all done things that were a little too much for someone we thought we loved. But don’t worry! I don’t blame you! These things are so normalized in the world. This kind of perverted worldly love endorses this kind of behavior. And how do we know what deceptive, worldly love looks like? It produces actions that are contrary to the word of God. The fruit of this love is one that is destructive, confusing, and divisive. We want to stay as far away from this kind of love as possible.

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways"

James 1:8

The Right Love Will Lead You To Obey Commandments.

To truly know if you are walking in love of the Father, check how obedient you are to God. Our godly love will mimic that of Jesus. Jesus, though he faced persecutors, traitors, and even death, never stopped being obedient to his Father. He continued to do the will of God. And Jesus, during his time, here on earth, even shared this tip for us in John 15:10 that helps us to know that when we are walking in obedience to the Father, we are remaining in His love for us. Every action of Jesus recorded was the very essence of remaining in God’s love through obedience to the Father.

"If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love."

John 15:10

The Right Kind of Love Will Produce Fruit

Part of that obedience was painful. To have nails in your body, thorns on your head, and to die on the cross for a world that did not love him was painful. But it was his love for all of us. In turn, that love produced fruit…That seed produced an ecclesia, or a church, that is born again and desires to follow and love Jesus. We have salvation because of one man’s obedience to the Father and love for the world. This love from the Father produced freedom and life for all who were sentenced to death

"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

What is God’s love producing in you? And if the answer is nothing, ask yourself these three questions:

1.     Have I been remaining in Him?

2.     Has He been remaining in me?

3.     Have I been obedient? 

If the answer is no, pause and reflect on ways to turn that around. Visit and reflect on areas in our lives that are not of Christ. Think back to the instructions of God that we ignored because we ‘thought’ we knew better than the most high. This isn’t a reprimand, but an invitation to produce the right kind of love in our lives.

Lord thank you. I give you all the glory and honor. Amen.

- xoxo God's Girl