True Love

Yet another Valentine's Day is here again, and I think it's so special that it has fallen on a Sunday this year. On this day that we focus on those we care about deeply, we ought to remember the greatest love of all and the One whose love is so vast.

Agape, the love that is unconditional, nonreciprocal, and non-withheld... forever. There is only One who completely fulfills the qualifications of such a love, and He is the Lord God of heaven and earth.

We read in the greatest Love Letter of all, the Bible, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) It would take a great love indeed to be willing to die for someone. Yet that is what Jesus did for us. First, He came down from heaven to be born of a virgin. Then He grew up, living a perfect life without sin. He allowed Himself to be falsely accused and to be put to the death of capital punishment, that He being made the curse for us could take our sins upon Himself. Then He rose from the dead to conquer death and hell. All so that we who ask Him can be saved, which is the greatest valentine of all.

Because true love is so important, the Bible has much more to say about it.

In I John 3:18 we are exhorted, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." In other words, true love is doing, not just saying. Our actions should be living proof that we love God, and that we love others just as the Lord Jesus Himself has commanded us: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34)

Then there's the famous "Love Chapter", I Corinthians 13, which tells of how empty our actions are without true love. It defines what true love is and is not, and concludes that true love surpasses everything else.

Through the Holy Spirit (whom He has given to dwell in us upon our salvation), the love that surpasses everything else is passed on to the believer. It is humbling to think that He has given me the capability of loving others just as God loves me... and you.

Happy Valentine's Day!