Let's Talk About Love

   I’m not sure if this is normal, but for the past couple months of DTS I’ve felt like I was drowning in a sea of revelation. Each week was like a new wave of gut-punching, head-spinning truth, and by the time week 8 rolled around, I was ready for a break. The topic was relationships, and I was feeling optimistic that this would be the week I’d catch my breath. After all, I call my parents every Saturday, I was homeschooled so I don’t have any friends, and my boyfriend, who’s 6’4”, has a Scottish accent, and looks like Liam Hemsworth, doesn’t technically exist in the realm of reality—in other words, I’m surprised they didn’t ask me to teach.

     So Monday came around and I sat in my blue, plastic chair, smugly reveling in my relational ignorance. It was complete bliss for about 20 minutes, but then, things got personal.

    God is, at His very core, a relational being. Before the world was made, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed in perfect relationship—three separate beings made one by magnificent, unadulterated love. From the overflow of love that bound the trinity together, man was created. After God created the world in Genesis 1:31, the bible says, “and God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good,” but in Genesis 2:18, God says, “it is not good that the man should be alone.” God created us for relationship—relationship with the Godhead and relationship with each other.

    God created us so He could share His love with us, and we are commanded to show that same love in our human relationships. 1 John 4:7-11 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  

    So, relationships are about love. Now, where have I heard that one before? Oh yeah, in every song, book, and movie I’ve ever heard, read, or watched. If you’ve had any exposure to popular culture, you probably figured out that the world is a little obsessed with love and relationships. Love is what makes our world go round, but how does the world love? To answer this question, I’ve done a literary study of the popular book series “Twilight.” In a nutshell, the world’s definition of relationships is all about fulfilling your own emotional needs. So, your boyfriend’s a pale, sparkly vampire who abandons you without explanation and attempts to control your life for what he claims to be your own protection? That’s a little concerning, but more importantly, does he complete you?

    Thankfully, Jesus isn’t Edward Cullen, and His love looks a lot different than the world’s selfish, needy version of love. How did Christ show His love for us? “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).” Chist’s love looks like sacrifice. Jesus gave up everything—His position as God’s Son, His right to be accepted by His people, even His right to a natural death—so that we could have a relationship with the Father He loved more than His own life. In a world that’s obsessed with using others to fill our emptiness, Jesus is the only one who gives.

    Now here’s the part where I started squirming. John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” We are commanded to love each other like Christ loved us. If Christ’s love looks like the cross, what are our relationships supposed to look like? Jesus standard of love is laying down your life. It doesn’t mean playing nice, it doesn’t mean patting people on the back, it doesn’t mean getting along with people—it means dying every single day. Love isn’t a feeling that comes and goes, love is a choice we make to lay aside ourselves, to take our bad moods and snippy words, our needs and personal preferences, and nail them to the cross.

    As Christians, we need to stop talking and singing and writing about love and start doing love. Love is our commandment—the mark that shows the world we’ve been with Christ. It’s the active expression of the grace we’ve received—a sweet perfume that still smells a little like Golgotha. Without it, our prayers and songs and mission trips are useless. Turns out, love really is what makes the world go round. God is love and He so loved the world He gave His only Son so that we might know that love. And that’s the love my friends, not the self-seeking feelings of our lovestruck world, that will truly complete you.