I realize that this is coming out several days before Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to talk about love.  No, not necessarily the love on display on February 14, but real love.

Most people get a little mixed up on what love is because we use that word for many reasons.

We think of love as an emotion or having butterflies or infatuation.  Love can include that emotion, but it is bigger.

We say that we love something that is not alive – like loving pizza.  We definitely can like inanimate things, but love is bigger.

We say that we love friends.  Again, love is bigger.

Love is caring about another person and doing whatever you can to express it.  That includes loving God, your spouse, family, friends, and the world.  Love is huge.

Jesus made it clear that true love is what He expects and demands from us.  He said in John 13:34-35: “‘I give you a new command: Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’”

That is not easy to do, and it is not natural for us.  I guess that is why Jesus said it is a new command because they had not understood it before.  Jesus spent His life and ministry showing us

Real love isn’t easy or natural for us – I guess that is why Jesus said it was a new command

And He spent His life and ministry showing us what love means.

We must love because love comes from God.  If you love others, you are proving that you are His.  1 John 4:7 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

We must love because God is love.  So, if you know Him, you will know His love.  1 John 4:8 says, “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

We must love because God loves you more than you can imagine.  Knowing what we would do and who we have been, Jesus still took on the punishment that we deserve.  1 John 4:9-10 says, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way.  God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Sono to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

There is only one option here.  We must love – really love – truly love.  And enjoy Valentine’s Day, too.

Francis Chan wrote a convicting book on this kind of love that you may want to check out. Just click the picture to find out more…