Guest Post: True Love in Scripture

 Hello again, friends! 

I am so excited to bring you a guest post by Erika Mathews, author of the Truth from Taerna series. I hope you enjoy it! 

What is love?

All of Scripture defines love. God is love, and knowing God is knowing love. Everything in the Bible that reveals God to us reveals love to us. Dwelling in God is dwelling within love itself, and dwelling in love is dwelling in God.

Scripture is clear: we love because He first loved.

The essence of true love is encompassed in the descriptive Hebrew word hesed. Translated mercy, lovingkindness, steadfast love, and similar terms in Scripture, hesed refers to the unchanging, strong, loyal, faithful, deep covenant love of God.

True love is described in depth in 1 Corinthians 13. After talking about what love is not (it’s not speaking eloquently, prophesying, understanding mysteries, having all knowledge, giving all you have to the poor, or martyrdom in themselves), it dives right into exactly what love is:

Love suffereth long. (Think of how long Jesus suffered on the cross! Think of how long God suffers the wickedness of man. Think of how long He suffers our failings, wanderings, and stumblings.)

and is kind; (The kindness of God appeared towards us in Jesus Christ!)

love envieth not; (God does not envy. Have you ever thought about that?)

love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (When Jesus was on earth, do we ever see Him drawing attention to Himself? No—His purpose was to glorify Father in heaven.)

Doth not behave itself unseemly, (God is righteousness! Jesus has been made the righteousness of God to us. He is wisdom, discretion, prudence, rightness, goodness, and gentleness.)

seeketh not her own, (Did you know God doesn’t seek His own?)

is not easily provoked, (God is slow to anger. He is longsuffering and compassionate.)

thinketh no evil; (He thinks thoughts of peace and not of evil! How much opportunity He has to think evil, and yet He doesn’t!)

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, (He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Sin grieves Him.)

but rejoiceth in the truth; (Yet He rejoices when one sinner repents! He joys over us with singing!)

Beareth all things, (Jesus bore all our sin and pain on the cross. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.)

believeth all things, (Did you know God believes in you? He sees you as you are in Him, not as you are in yourself.)

hopeth all things, (God is hope and His hope never fails.)

endureth all things. (Think again of all Jesus endured in making Himself of no reputation, taking on Him the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Think of how endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself! Think of how He endured the cross, despising the shame.)

Love never faileth: (Jesus never fails!)

Reading this description of true love, are we discouraged? We can never demonstrate this love in ourselves; it isn’t in us.

Yet God is love, and if we have received Him into us, we do have true love—and every one of its characteristics—in us. We suffer long; we are kind; we do not envy; we don’t vaunt ourselves or puff ourselves us; we don’t behave in unseemly ways; we don’t seek our own; we aren’t easily provoked; we don’t think any evil; we don’t rejoice in iniquity but rejoice in truth; we bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. In Him, we never fail in loving.

You see, love is laying down your life for others. Not just your physical life, but your inner life: your soul—your mind, your will, your emotions. Love is sacrifice. As Jesus demonstrated, true love is death. When Jesus talked about denying yourself, taking up your cross daily, and following Him, He didn’t mean physically dying every day but spiritually dying to yourself. He meant laying down what we want to think about, what we want to do, and what we want to feel—and letting His love take over. Let His love for others through us control your actions and thoughts.

This is part of what one of the next verses means: 

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Children do what they want to do and what they feel like. Love (and mature men and women) put away their own pleasures and live in love, making the right choice even when it’s hard.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

That is the goal of love! Knowing even as we are known! Jesus prayed in John 17, “that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” His heart for us is to first know Him as He knows us, and then for us to know each other in the same way: full, united, true oneness for now and forever!

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

May we live within His love all the days of our lives and beyond!