TRUE LOVE – Proverbs 30:18-19, John 3:16, 1 John 3:16

It’s troubling how many marriages, both in and outside the Christian population, are failing. I know this is Valentine’s Day, but when I think about love, it makes me think of many things.  How so many people are settling for less than what love really is.

I understand that life is easier when you have the support of others, but we were made to be loved fully, unconditionally.  Yet, how often do we “fall in love” with those who only partially or under certain conditions, love us in return?  How many choose to love others selfishly, rather than selflessly, like we deserve.

How can I say we all deserve that type of love?  Because God gave up His only son, to love us as we were meant to be loved, fully, unconditionally (John 3:16).  He didn’t demonstrate His love to us, after we got all perfect and loved Him back as we should, as He is meant to be loved. He loved us with all of Himself, in spite of ourselves.

What better example do we have than that?  You may be thinking, “Yeah, that’s God. How can we be expected to love like that?”  We do it all the time.  It doesn’t matter what my kid does.  I will ALWAYS love her.  As often as I screw up, my husband still forgives and ALWAYS loves me, anyway.  We are even told that it is possible in 1 John 3:16, which says, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Too often, we believe the fairy tales fed to us in movies and books, but we settle for whatever we can get, from others. It doesn’t have to be that way.  It shouldn’t be that way.

Proverbs 30:18-19 tell us:

“There are three things that amaze me—
no, four things that I don’t understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman.”

Do you know love that like that, love that just amazes you?  I’m blessed and so very thankful that I have a husband and others in my life who love me in a way that often amazes me.  That’s a gift, but it is a gift my Heavenly Father says I deserve, that He desires for us.  It’s a gift I know I deserve, because I’ve experienced it from knowing Him, and you deserve like that too, because He created you for it.

I may not always include a video like I did in my last blog or I am doing in this one, but this one is so perfect for this day, and for what I felt led to share with all of you. It’s by a young man named Jeff Bethke, who figured out what true love is all about.