What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Ephesians 3:17-19
…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
A Tina Turner song plays on the radio, “what’s love got to do with it, got to do with it? what’s love but a second-hand emotion...a heart to be broken.” There are over 100 million songs about being loved, in love, out of love and unloved, according to the internet. Why do we spend so much energy seeking love?
First of all, there are several types of love, but only one everlasting love. Perhaps you have experienced love in various ways. Sometimes what is described as love is really not love but something “feeling like” love or you thought was true love. Perhaps you love ice cream, love walks in the park, love to read a good book, but these are things you enjoy doing. Perhaps you love animals, but you eat meat. Perhaps you love what your sister is wearing or loved Patrick Swayze, but these were things you covet or wish you had known. While you use the word love, that love is fleeting and generally doesn’t stay. However, there are loves we have that have longer holds on us…our spouses or love of a child, these are much closer to everlasting love. Maybe you would even say they are everlasting, but sometimes that love is a struggle to hold on to. Too often we want to change that person, or they fall short of our expectations of receiving the love we want back. It is not everlasting, but closer, and you may forgive and still feel that love.
But we are told God IS love and whoever abides in Love abides in God and God abides in us (1 John 4:19). What does that mean? The apostle John makes it clear that love is not just one of God’s attributes, but that He is the very essence of love. Every action He takes, every boundary He sets, and every promise He makes flows from His core being. God’s love forms the foundation of His relationship with all creation. This divine love is active and transformative. His love sacrifices, pursues (even when rejected), and loves no matter what. His love endures, is everlasting and steadfast. His love is specific and intentional, meeting us whenever and in whatever state we are in.
Our job is to seek out His love, understand it’s depth and strive (as per Jesus) to reach that same level of love. It isn’t easy, it requires dedication to study and learn all we can, through our experiences as we travel through in life. It requires constant communication with the one that loves us, God.
Prayer
God help us seek to better understand the depth, width, length and height of your love. Guide us through our struggles to achieve perfect love within. Help us learn to love as your son loved in everything we do and with everyone we encounter. Amen.
Karen Horton
