And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Lately I have been thinking of what it would be like to live in this world without love. What would the world be like without God’s forever love? Living by faith is truly needed, and who can live without hope? But how could I live without the love of Jesus Christ. And if everyone would live with the love of Christ in their hearts, what kind of world would it be like?
So what is God’s love like? Here are just a few descriptors:
Selfless. Jesus emptied himself to become man and a servant. “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6-7 Jesus came to serve and give himself as a ransom for us.
Sacrificial. Jesus laid down his life for us. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 He gave his life as an offering for us in turning away the wrath of God for our sin.
Giving. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 The Father gave us Jesus and Jesus gives us eternal life.
Eternal. “Love never fails..” 1 Corinthians 13:8 Nothing can separate us from his love and it lasts forever. Jesus loves us with an everlasting love.
There are many more descriptors of God’s love in being patient, kind, and faithful. But what many are looking for is this kind of love: selfless, sacrificial, giving, and the eternal love of God found in a relationship with Jesus.
The other choice is selfishness and to love only ourselves. I think this kind of love is seen mostly in our world and especially in American culture. CS Lewis writes that love takes risks and is vulnerable in his book The Four Loves:
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
What the world needs now is God’s love, the love of Jesus poured out in our hearts by his Spirit. Open your heart and take the risk. You won’t regret it.