WHAT IS LOVE?

If LOVE is the nature of man, how come our world today is not LOVE-personified?  

That’s because the world has opted to set aside God. It has pursued a path separate from Him and has opted not to grow into a fruitful tree. We are becoming the wasted seed in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).  

¹⁰ There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. ECCLESIASTES 7

We have adapted to a world system that promotes erroneous love. And what is erroneous love?

§  It is fond of saying I love you with the selfish I preceding love.

§  It is equated with companionship, with physical attraction, or worse, with “sexual oneness” the like of fornication, adultery, incest and homosexuality. Many see "love" as a four-letter word.

§  It prostitutes “love” and marries for money.

§  It discriminates whom to love.

§  It makes a trophy of the people it “loves” that they end up being idolized, caged and unhappy.

§  It sees “love” as an investment (as when politicians marry celebrities to add to their popularity, or when parents prepare their children to take care of them in their old age).  

§  It disregards God, which is ironical for “Love comes from God” (1 John 4:7). Where God is absent, love is absent.  

Does all this sound familiar to you? Of course, it does! We are its fruits.

³³ Make a tree good and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad. MATTHEW 12

Erroneous love puts in us a gnawing emptiness that has to be satisfied, a void that has to be filled. It makes us restless. Those of the so-called superior class, those seated on positions of great power and authority, those pedigreed in education, those who have reached the pinnacle of success in their careers, and those surrounded with material comforts—even they are restless, bored of what the world has to offer. They too are burdened and tire so easily in what they do.  

Have you ever talked to someone who is well-educated but unhappy? rich but sad? talented but depressed? beautiful but rejected? What makes people this way? According to the Book of Solomon, "Life without God (LOVE) no matter how seemingly valuable, leads to emptiness…”

No matter how hard we try to fill our emptiness with worldly appointments and trimmings, at the end of the day it begs to be resolved. Our hearts thirst for divine love… our minds thirst for divine love… our souls thirst for divine love… our strengths thirst for divine love…

¹⁷ The poor and the needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Isra’el, will not forsake them. ISAIAH 41

It is for the thirsty that God incarnated. 

³⁷ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. JOHN 7

¹⁷ Whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. REVELATION 22

¹³ Whosoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. JOHN 4

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. MATTHEW 11

Divine Love (“LOVE”) is the opposite of erroneous love. Let us understand it from our Creator’s point of view: 

LOVE is all-inclusive. It welcomes everyone to its circle, associates with people of low position, and does not discriminate whom to love. Our FB friend Candy Yuzon-yee said, "God loves you unconditionally, no matter what you are and who you are."

<sup>45 (God) causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. MATTHEW 5

16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven. MATTHEW 5
1</sup> My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Y’shua the Messiah if you favor some people over others? ³ If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, ⁴ doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? JAMES 2 nlt

⁴⁰ … I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me. ⁴⁵ I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me. MATTHEW 25

LOVE is oozing with generosity and uncontaminated with selfishness. 

⁵ God gives generously to all without finding fault. JAMES 1 

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor “Come back later; I will give it tomorrow”—when you now have it with you. PROVERBS 3

⁴² When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something, lend it to him. MATTHEW 5 tev

²⁰ Lend without charging interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite [a fellow Christian]. DEUTERONOMY 23 

Giving can cause discomfort or inconvenience to the giver, that’s true, but look at the divine example in this touching story of Keavin Hayden:

After Adam sinned, God taught him about the destructiveness of sin by having him take the life of an innocent lamb. Adam had never witnessed death. Yet it was presented to him as the only way to forgiveness. So he took the life of that innocent little creature that had always looked at his master with eyes of love and trust. As Adam stood there in shock from the horror of the scene, the stain of crimson on his hand, he looked up and in agony cried out to God, “Is this what must happen to me because of my sin?” But God’s answer came back with tender love that could melt the heart of the most hardened sinner: “No, My son, that is what must happen to Me because of your sin.” (Truth That Matters, p. 21) 

LOVE reaches out to the needy, whatever the cost.

We may not be aware of it but to sin is to buy selfish, momentary pleasure. In exchange for the pleasure, we pawn to Lucifer everything we got and let him do with them whatever it is that pleases him. It is a pledge that no man can redeem by himself. The penalty for unredeemed pledges is Second Death (Romans 6:23).

We got ourselves into a predicament, so God came to help.

God left His comfort zone to free us from the bondage. He allowed the evil empire and its human agents the satisfaction of shaming Him and tormenting Him to death as a ransom to pay off our debts and release us from the pledge.

²² The whole world is a prisoner of sin. GALATIANS 3

⁸ The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1 JOHN 3

¹³ The Messiah… took the curse for our wrongdoing upon Himself. GALATIANS 3 tlb

¹ It is for freedom that the Messiah has set us free. GALATIANS 5

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. EPHESIANS 1 

LOVE does not hesitate or retreat in the face of death or extreme suffering when necessary.

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Y’shua the Messiah laid down His life for us. 1 JOHN 3

⁹ Here is how God showed His love among us: God sent His only Son into the world, so that through Him we might have life. ¹⁰ Here is what love is: …He sent His Son to be the kapparah [atonement, expiation, propitiation] for our sins. 1 JOHN 4 cjb

The Son of Man suffered cruel torment, including the humiliation of being nailed to the cross and dying on it—a punishment reserved only for the worst criminals of the time. His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form marred beyond human likeness (Isaiah 52:14).

Nothing speaks more clearly of God's LOVE than the cross. The Son of Man died so that all of us might live (Hebrews 2:9).

² The Righteous One… is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 JOHN 2

¹⁸ The Messiah died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 PETER 3

LOVE prevails over temptation. It is neither provoked by rudeness nor by meanness, nor by intimidation, nor by rejection, nor by hurt, nor by anger, nor by spitefulness, nor by revengefulness. LOVE is slow to anger and a thick wallet of second chances. Our temptation is to find fault, protest, condemn or react harshly against anyone who delivers discomfort, inconvenience or suffering to us—to reciprocate tooth for tooth. But that is not how LOVE works. The Son of Man meekly received the blows. He always transformed negative situations into positive. At the cross His dying words were a prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

¹⁰ This is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us… ¹⁹ God loved us first. 1 JOHN 4

LOVE is gracious. It responds to ungodly deeds with godly deeds. It keeps on empathizing and forgiving even if the beneficiary is unworthy of empathy and forgiveness. God’s heart beats with compassion and mercy even for those who do not love Him.

⁶ The Messiah died for the ungodly… ⁸ God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, the Messiah died for us… ¹⁰ When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son. ROMANS 5 

³ We were by [our sinful] nature objects of [God’s] wrath. ⁴ But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with the Messiah even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. EPHESIANS 2 
⁴⁵ Your Father in heaven causes His sun to shine on the evil and on the good. He sends His rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. MATTHEW 5 

During Y’shua’s time, the Jews did not associate with the Samaritans (John 4:9). But while teaching “Love your neighbor”, someone wisecracked, “Who is my neighbor?” He answered by giving the parable of a Samaritan who helped a Jew in need. Read Luke 10:29-37 to understand better.

Now, somebody might have rubbed us the wrong way. He might have mistreated us... irritated us... failed us... grieved us... and he might have done it not only once… but that does not give us a valid excuse to stop loving him. He remains our neighbor and a valued creation of God. Remember, the Son of Man shed His precious blood and died for him too. 

⁴⁴ I tell you, love your enemies; and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. MATTHEW 5

LOVE is edifying. To edify is to build up our neighbors in the Lord. The process is like putting up a skyscraper; it’s not easy. As we all know, skyscrapers do not sprout overnight. We have to plan our moves and accomplish them one step at a time. We start from the bottom, put up solid foundations, and inch our way up.

           ¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ROMANS 15

Building up our neighbor in the Lord requires personal sacrifices on our part, a large chunk of which has to do with humbling ourselves. “A proud Christian is a contradiction,” said Billy Graham. 

                ⁴ Love is… never boastful or proud. 1 CORINTHIANS 13 tlb 

                ⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil and cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷ Do not repay evil with evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ROMANS 12

In summary, Scripture says of LOVE:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, 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. 1 CORINTHIANS 13

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