Around here, we’re all about love. New love, unexpected love. Love that defies the odds and conquers all. That neither snow nor rain nor heat… oh, wait. That’s the unofficial Postal Service motto. Love that always goes above and beyond, that never fails, that always finds a happy (and perfect) ending. Hmm…definitely sounds like something only fictional characters can live up to. But I know Who can in real life. Here’s what Scripture tells us about true love – the love God has for us:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)
Wow. That kind of love is definitely not earthly. None of us can live up to it. Not even our characters (because who would believe THAT was possible??). But it’s definitely the love we all desire, that we strive for, and that we (perhaps unconsciously) expect those around us to exhibit – because we all have a God-shaped hole in our heart.
It’s quite a list – what love is and isn’t. Godly Love IS patient, kind, protective, honoring, trusting, hopeful. It is NOT envious, boastful or proud. It’s doesn’t anger easily nor does it keep a running tab of wrongs, and it doesn’t delight in things going wrong. No matter what, Love perseveres.
Perhaps that explains why we love reading and writing romance stories. We’re looking for that perfect love. The best part is – we already have it! We see it in the face of Jesus. We feel it in the forgiveness that blankets us. And we live it through everyday miracles: sunrises and sunsets, the smile of a dear friend, the laughter of children, the food on our table, the words of love shared in our Bibles.
Rest today in the One who loves you completely, irrevocably and forever, knowing you’re living the ultimate love story.