Love

We all know what it feels like when we dont have enough. For many people, including
our governments, it is a deficit of money. They dont have enough money to pay for everything
we want, or need. For some, it is a deficit of food. They dont have enough to eat. But the
most egregious deficit in our world is love.
We all have a deep need for love built into us. We feel this need from the very
beginning of our lives. Fetuses respond to the parents while in the mothers womb. Babies
need to be held. Children need massive amounts of hugs and attention.
Teenagers and young adults listen to innumerable songs about love. Women watch
movies and read books about deep and exciting romances. Men enjoy movies about guys who
go through war or other trials and build a bond of respect and admiration for each other. We
spend time with other people, looking for someone who will accept us and like us as we are.
We want someone to know us personally, and to love us.
We do all manner of harm to ourselves in our quest for love. We give ourselves to
someone who will use us for their pleasure and discard us, in the hopes that they will love us.
We get married, and when we dont feel loved, we divorce them and marry someone else,
hoping to feel loved. We immerse ourselves in pornography, imagining that, if they knew us,
they would love us. We drown ourselves in drugs, alcohol, and other addictions to numb
ourselves so we wont feel the sting of loneliness. We even perform all manner of religious
works in the hope that God will accept us, that we can earn His love.

What is the origin of love?

Where does our need for love come from? Is it merely a biochemical reaction that
causes us to do things that we would not otherwise do to continue our species existence? This
is the logical conclusion of evolution. Love is only a biological process to ensure the
continuation of our species. But this is a very unsatisfying conclusion.
We all feel the absence of something. And this absence drives us to many of the
behaviors that are destructive. If the only reason we needed love was because of a biochemical
need to procreate, then our society should be a lot less messy. We should not have as many
emotional problems as we have. It should not bother us when we break up with our girlfriends
or boyfriends. Divorce should be a mutual division of goods. We should not be hurt over

betrayal. After all, its just business. But its not just business. Its personal. And we think
there is something wrong with people who think of everyone as business to be taken care of.
We get upset with people who do not recognize that we are people who need love. This is
because we were created for love.
In the beginning, God created That phrase defines this world we live in. God created
it. Therefore, God determined how it works and what limits we have. He defines what is good
in this world and what is not. He designed it and it is His right. This is the basis for
understanding ourselves, our needs, and our purpose. To accept and understand that God
created us for His reason puts everything else in its proper perspective.
When God created man (and woman), He created us in His image. This was not a
physical image, because God is spirit. He was referring to His mental, emotional, moral, and
spiritual image. He made us to reflect Himself. He made us to think, to feel, to make decisions,
and to love. He breathed into us the breath of life so that we would more fully reflect Him. He
made us into male and female so that each of us would more fully reflect different aspects of
Him. He created us to be in relationship with Himself and each other. And in these
relationships, we are to reflect Him, because He is love (1 John 4:16).
God does not describe Himself as loving. He describes Himself as love. His very nature
is the nature of love. For all eternity, He has existed in perfect relationship between the Father
(God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. This is the Trinity, and we will examine it further in
the future. For now, though, we will explain it as God existing as three separate and distinct
persons who, together, are God. Because of this eternal relationship of love, God understands
love. In no other religion or mythology can any god be described as love. At best they were
sometimes kind or benevolent. Mostly, the gods of love were sexual. But God is love, and all
love comes from Him (1 John 4:7).
God created us to reflect His love, to reflect Himself. When we sinned, that reflection
was marred. We no longer reflected Him and His love as we did. We became consumed with
ourselves. We distrusted, disliked, and destroyed others. We became focused on fulfilling our
own desires. We reflect Him as a funhouse mirror. We have distorted and deformed the love
that He is, so that it is often unrecognizable. And yet, we have a deep, instinctual hunger for
that love, for Him.

What does Gods love look like?

If God is love, and we are deformed reflectors of His love, how can we know what love
really looks like? The fact is, on our own, we cannot. Because we have sinned, we cannot see

God. We are blinded by our sin (sin is anything which violates Gods nature or His creation).
We cannot see because we have no ability to see. Even though we hunger for it, and we try to
properly act out of love, we cannot truly know love, or even truly love because we have lost the
ability. How can we reflect love as it really is if we are deformed and scratched?
But God is not limited as we are, or even by us. In fact, He can show us despite
ourselves, and He has. In Romans (5:8), Paul states that God showed His love for us like this:
while we were still His enemies, Jesus died for us. John says the same thing in 1 John 4:10. God
loved us so much that, while we hated Him and wanted to kill Him, He came to meet us in the
midst of our depravity and take our deaths so that we could live. And He didnt stop there. His
love is so great that He calls us His children (1 John 3:1).
Think about it. God created us to perfectly reflect His love and nature. But we chose to
reject Him, and have set about, through our choices, to destroy everything He created. We
have tried to forget that we need Him. We want to be our own gods. Yet, we long for Him. We
were made for Him. So, we have tried to destroy everything that reminds us of that fact. But,
still the hunger gnaws at us, always scratching at our consciousness, reminding us of Him. And
we hate Him for it. So when He came to us to fill our hunger, we tried to destroy Him.
God knows all this. He knew it before He created us. He knew that, for us to love as He
loves, we have to choose. He knew what we would choose. And He did it anyway. He knew we
would hate Him. He knew He would die for us. He created us anyway. Then He came and died
for us. He loves us that much. It would have hurt less to not create us to begin with, but then
He would not have the joy of loving us. How awesome is He?
But then, He went further. Not only did He die to allow us to live, He adopts us to be His
children. No longer were we simply servants of Almighty God, we have become sons and
daughters. We can call God Daddy (Romans 8:15-16). Before Jesus walked on the Earth, no
one would have dared to call God Daddy. But if we believe Jesus, and trust Him, then He gives
us the right to be called Children of God (John1:12).
None of us have had a perfect father. Some of us have had very bad fathers. Some of
us were fortunate enough to have fathers who tried to reflect Gods love to us. But God is the
perfect father. He loves us perfectly. He always does what is right, and He knows how to
handle every situation. He will never leave us. He will never hate us. He is always with us,
even when we dont feel Him near. He carries us when we are weak. Nothing we do will cause
Him to stop loving us, or even make Him love us more or less than He does now. In fact,
nothing can separate us from His love ((Romans 8:35-39). And He is always working to perfect
us (Philippians 1:6). Even His discipline, though uncomfortable, is done with love (Hebrews
12:6).

How do we love?
What is our response then, to the love that God pours out on us? We are to love others
(John 4:11). Who are we to love? We are to love God (Matthew 22:37), love fellow believers
(John 13:34-35), love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39), and love our enemies (Luke 6:27-28).
How are we to love them? We are to love as Jesus loves (John 15:12).
How did Jesus love God? How are we to love God? Jesus said in John 14:15 that if we
love Him, we will obey His commands. As His children, we should want to please our Daddy. As
a parent, I am pleased when my children do what they know I want them to do. This is not
tyranny. This is because parents know better than children what is good for them. My children
dont know that playing in the street is dangerous, or that brushing their teeth is good, unless I
teach them. The same is true of God. He has given us commands that are designed to help us
grow. They keep us safe and free from guilt. And His commands are simple: Believe Jesus and
love each other (1 John 3:23). This is the way Jesus loves God (John 14:31).
How did Jesus love others? Jesus said that there is no greater love than sacrificing
ourselves for others (John 15:13). And then He did it to show us. He gave up Heaven to come
here for us. He lay down His throne, His power, His life for us. He lived among us, loving us
with truth and actions, not just telling us but showing us how to love. Then He told us to love
the way He loves. He even said people would know we were His by our love (John 13:35).
But this love is not easy. In fact, it is impossible for us to love like Jesus loves. This love
is the reflection of God in us and through us. But we are damaged reflectors. How do we
reflect God when we are broken and scratched? That is Gods part. Our part is to cooperate
with Him. He uses all the scratches and dents to reflect Himself to people who could not see
Him otherwise. Each of us has unique scars that we have gained through this life. Each of us
suffers our own pains. But God uses each of those to love people who are blinded by their own
pain and anguish. If we live by His Spirit that He places within each of His children, His love will
naturally pour out of us (Galatians 5:22-23).
In 1 Corinthians 13, love is described. This is what the love that God pours out is. This is
God. God is love. To describe love is to describe God Himself. He is patient. He is kind and
gentle. He is humble. He is not selfish, but seeks to give Himself to everybody. He is slow to
anger, merciful, and good. He always protects us. He never fails. He has always been, and He
always will be (Revelations 1:8). Sometimes we dont see that God was love before Jesus, but
He was (). He has never changed, and He never will.

Further Reading:
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I Corinthians 13
I John 3-4
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 6:27-36
John 14:15-15:17