LOVE

Love is probably the most misunderstood concept in our society these days. There is a lot of confusion regarding what love is. No dictionary can do justice in defining what love is. The most commonly glorified love in our times is between that of a young man and a young woman(between lovers). We see this love all the time in our movies, our books and so on. A commonly felt infatuation between the members of the opposite gender is what everyone thinks as love. Is love only that? Or is there more to it? Certainly it is more than that. For a love to be celebrated, it must first be sacrificial. When it is coupled with selflessness, it becomes the purest form of love. Does such a love exist? Of course it does. The love of a father or a mother can been counted as examples of this type of pure love.

Now, let’s delve a little deeper. God also showers His love upon humans. And His love is unique and words fail to describe the purity of His divine love. So how is it different from that of a father or mother? A parent loves his or her own child only, but the God of the Bible loves even those who reject Him, mock Him and who keep sinning. What’s more, He not only just loved sinners, He took on flesh, came and walked on earth by the name of JESUS and died for us while we were yet sinners. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”- Romans 5:8. Can any other love be more awesome than this? This reminds of a line from a song which says, “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul”. I read something like this somewhere and it described God’s Mighty Love beautifully. It says, “God sacrificed one third of Himself, a part of the Trinity to die and make a way for mankind to be redeemed”. How true is that!

Jesus demonstrated a love that is unheard of when He asked the Father to Forgive the very people who had tortured Him and killed Him in the most horrible manner by nailing Him to a cross. This is how He loves .It is agreeably difficult for us humans to emulate this kind of love. But when we allow the Holy Spirit to work inside of us, loving and forgiving like this will become a way of life. Forgiving others is a Christian duty. Proverbs 19:11 says, “It is the glory of a man to overlook a transgression”. Yes, we must forgive and show mercy to others.

There isn’t a greater written short document on love probably than 1 Corinthians 13, famously known as the ‘love chapter’. It says,
“Love is patient and kind
Love does not envy, boast, or insist on its own way
Love is not irritable, resentful, or arrogant
Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth
Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things
Love never ends
Love is greater than faith and hope”.

Finally, beloved, let us ask for grace from the Lord to fill us with His love so that we can be a blessing to others. Let’s pray to the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit so that we do all things in love and glorify His name. Amen!!