Love, Love, Love

    

     Hey readers! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are staying warm in this chilly winter weather! Since Valentines day is the next major holiday celebrated in the United States, I would like to talk about biblical love. As most of us already know, the world paints a distorted picture of love than the story of love shown in the bible. The world likes to commercialize love and say "if you really love him/ her show it with a diamond, or chocolate, or flowers". While those things are great and can be a nice gift for your loved ones on Valentines day, it is not the same as showing them love every day of the year. As always, I am not here to put you down for celebrating Valentines day. I am just merely pointing us to scripture in this time of the year where love is talked about so much. 

    If you have ever attended a church service you have likely heard the term "agape love" and you may even know what it means. In the Bible, the term "Agape" is used to describe God's attitude toward His son and to the human race in general (John 17:26, John 3:16, Rom 5:8). "Agape" is also used in the Bible when God is describing how His children should have certain attitudes toward one another (John 13:34, I Thess 3:12, I Cor 16:14, II Pet 1:7). Lastly, "Agape" love is used to describe God's nature (I John 4:8). Agape love is self sacrificing, unconditional, and expects nothing in return.  Since this form of love comes from God let's look at a few stories in the Bible where God shows his love. 

    First, let's look at the beginning with Adam and Eve just after the fall (Genesis 3:21). While God disciplined Adam and Eve for their sin, He did it with love so that they would learn. Additionally, God shows His love because he clothes them to hide their shame from their nakedness. This act is a display of God's grace and love. It shows us that we can still love even when we may be angry and even when others have wronged us. This scripture shows us that love is not a feeling but rather a choice. It is action oriented and it perseveres through thick and thin. 

    Another way God shows Agape love is when Christ washes the disciples feet in John 13:1-17.  This passage begins by stating that Jesus knew that his time on earth was drawing to a close yet instead of selfishly seeking out what he wanted to do in that time, he serves his disciples. Now washing feet in present day may not be seen as an act of service and honestly might be taken in a weird way. But back then they didn't have the footwear we have today or automobiles to take them places so their feet were constantly callused, sore, and dirty. Jesus saw a need and filled it. What would you do in your final hours if you knew your time was coming to an end? Would you go skydiving or mountain climbing like in the Tim McGraw song? Or would you wash feet? I don't mean this to guilt you into serving others but genuinely ask yourself what you think you would instinctually do if you were put in that situation. Jesus did all this to show the disciples love and to give us the example of how to love others. 

    The biggest and most important example of love that God has shown us is Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Jesus' sacrifice was loving for so many reasons. It is easy for a lot of us to say that we love living, its engrained in us to survive. We want to live long lives to experience as much as possible. I can even admit that I've been scared to die early in life and miss great life experiences like having children or meeting grandchildren or growing old with my husband. Jesus went to the cross willingly at an early age of 33 years old to die for us. He could have called angels to save him. He could have wiped out all his enemies and lived a long life full of great experiences. But even in those 33 years, he didn't spend his time doing what HE wanted. He spent his time serving others and loving people. It makes me question how I spend my time on this earth. I don't know how long I'll live so am I loving people while I am here or am I doing what I want to do? 

    Jesus's sacrifice is also loving because God sent his only son to die for us. I had a hard time wrapping my head around this. I always thought "How can God have a son? He's God, not human." And honestly I still don't have an answer to this. There are some things we aren't meant to wrap our brains around, especially when talking about the creator of the universe. But what I do know is a parent's love for their kids. I've seen it in my parents and their love for us. I've seen it in my grandparents. It's a love that is strong, self sacrificing, and endless. I've also seen parents lose their children. I've seen my parents grieving the loss of my sister, Eleanor. I even can't imagine how that loss would feel as a parent, let alone if that child was your only child. Yet God still sent His only son as our savior. If you haven't before, I would encourage you to really think about Jesus's death on the cross. Think about what he had to endure in detail as if you were right there at His feet. Think about God's love that transcends all boundaries. Think about these things next time you take communion. 

    Now how do we apply this to our lives and what direction does God give us on how to love others?

 In Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus gives us the greatest command, to love God with all your heart and to love one another. But what does that entail?   

  First let's look at I Corinthians 13. Many of us know the scripture as it is used in many weddings and household decorations. Therefore, it is an easy passage to skim over since we already "know it" so well. But have you reflected over the context and meaning behind the verses? Go ahead and read over it before continuing to read my post. The first verse shows us that love is not about professing great declarations of love. It's about action and showing love. Words easily fly away in the wind but loving action takes heart. The chapter goes onto say that we could have all the faith in the world but without love we'd have absolutely nothing. We could be bible smart, dwell in God's promises, and pray all day. But if we have no love for our brothers and sisters we have nothing. We could give just to give and say we are "loving" but if we give regretfully or seeking to gain then we have nothing. Verses 4-7 go on to say what love is and isn't. When we don't know if we are truly being loving to so and so then this is a good screening tool. If we are looking to love people better then look to these verses. If you are looking to improve a rough relationship in your life, and not just romantic ones, look to these verses. Our knowledge will pass away. Our theories, prophecy, and understanding will go with the wind. We will never have full understanding of anything till we leave this life. Until we leave this life, the one thing we can always stand firm on is love and loving to the greatest capacity. 

    Another part of loving others is reflecting on the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5). If you have all the fruits of the spirit then it is pretty hard to be unloving towards others. We can also love others by praying for our eyes to be opened to what we need to work on in ourselves. Pray for opportunities to be shown to us. Reflect, memorize, and meditate over scriptures. Learn what love truly is by diving deep into Jesus' life and reading the Gospel accounts.  

Lastly, romantic love <3

    It is a common misconception for unbelievers and even some believers to think that God hates romantic love and sex. But he created it, why wouldn't he love it? Many see "no sex before marriage" as a hard rule that God put in place because he doesn't want us to experience pleasure. But as humans do, we have often gotten this picture so very wrong. God wants us to experience pleasure but more importantly he wants us to experience intimacy with our spouse under the protection and commitment of marriage. Now I'm definitely not judging you if you did not wait for marriage, it is not my place to judge or condemn. We all have various sins and struggles. I just want you to know that you are loved and forgiven by God if you seek out his forgiveness. He will wash it away like it never happened. If you are struggling with this temptation now or possibly in the future, I encourage you to reach out to someone you feel comfortable with and talk to about it. Disfunction and sin thrives in secrets. I also encourage you to wait for marriage. It is so hard but so worth it. 

    The bible also contains a book called Song of Solomon which describes a husbands love for his wife and is the book that includes the most about romantic love. This book provides an outline for how husbands and wives should love each other. As a newly wed myself, this book has been recommended for my husband and I to read together. Song of Solomon shows God's great gift of marriage and sex in the way that it was intended to be used. 

    I want to write a special thanks to those who continue to encourage me to write this blog to not only help others but also to help myself understand scripture. Your relentless loving encouragement  continues to make this blog possible. Thank you to those who have recommended books and resources and to those who have taken the time to teach me. Thank you readers for continuing to read, comment, and share my blog posts, it means so much!

-Abby :)

Extra Resources:

-"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slyevQ1LW7A       - The Bible Project-Agape Love