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My devotional book is all about the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Each fruit has 3 days of devotionals, and today's was all about love. The word "love" is one that people may struggle to define. With so many people having different ideas about what love it, the word has become a complicated one. However, it wasn't meant to be. If we look at God's Word, the word "love" can be quite simple to understand. Love is a caring commitment, in which affection is shown to others. This affection is grounded in the nature of God himself. Through God's Word, we are able to learn how to love God first over everything, and how to love others the way God love them. Love isn't something you can do without God, which is usually why we fail more times than not. But by giving your heart to God, he teaches your heart how to truly love. Alone we are selfish beings, and all of our motives are selfish. However, with God, we are able to experience his unconditional love. His love grows our love for Him as well as others.
Throughout my long and experienced 17 years on this Earth (haha), I've realized a few things about love. It hurts. It can be scary. Laying your heart out and giving someone the power to stomp on it whenever they wish can be terrifying. The heartache can seem to paralyze your life. You expose yourself to rejection, failure, and pain. This makes it so easy to give up on love or the idea of love. That is until you realize love isn't just about you. Love is about God and his will for your life. God loves those who don't love him back and he wants us to do the same. Transactional love is easy, we love someone and get love in return. But true love, the kind of love God asks for in you life, is endless and unconditional. God asks us to love fearlessly, to love even if love is not returned, to love in the face of anger and hate, to truly love. He asks us to love the unlovable and the outcasts. He asks us to love others because he first loved us (sinners). In all the relationships in our lives, it is important to love God first. It is impossible to love truly without God because God is love. Those who have experienced God's unconditional love will have the passion to show that love to others.
When asked the question "what is the opposite of love", many would first think "hate". That was also my initial thought. However, after thinking I see that hate isn't the true opposite of love. The opposite of love is selfishness. Surprised? Me too. That's because the world doesn't teach us to think of love as something that is selfless. We are taught a transactional type of love where we love someone and they love us in return. However, love should be completely selfless. Love gives up its life for another, love cares more for God than for self, love turns the other cheek, and love forgives. It is impossible for selfishness to love because selfishness puts self first. It puts self above others, and that is not what love should be. Love must be selfless and in order to be selfless, we must forgive. As children of God, we can't let the sins of others be an excuse as to why we don't display love towards them. We can't allow ourselves to respond in ways other than love. It is important for us to read God's Word and to learn what true love should look like. As we see the depth of God's love, the love inside of us will grow abundantly.
1 John 4:7-8
Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and know God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love.