Perfect Love

After the resurrection, Jesus showed Himself to His disciples as well as to many others. Some of them doubted, but then they met Him personally and they believed. This is proof that Jesus loved them until the end. He loves us so much that He did not leave us as orphans, but gave us His very own Spirit - the Holy Spirit. His love is amazing. He loves us even when we were yet sinners. He loves us now and He loves us with a perfect love.

Today the world is constantly trying to redefine the meaning of love. We commonly say “love” when we refer to our emotion, passion, or enthusiasm. Many people often use “love” as a synonym for “like.” It is interesting and rather amusing that there have been some recent scientific findings that deal with love as an emotion concerning our brain functions. In the early stages of love, which we call infatuation, a chemical enzyme is produced that can cloud clear thinking. No wonder we often times hear a cliché that says “love is blind.” During that time, perhaps even for a year or two, this enzyme produces a “feeling” that we associate with being in love. The problem with this kind of love is that it wears off.

Equating love to a feeling gets us out of a lot of obligations. When the feeling passes, the obligations and responsibilities are over. That is why we see husbands leave their wives or vise versa. They no longer honor their responsibilities to their children because the feeling of love has passed.

Similarly, it can also happen in our Christian life if we just use our feelings to love God. We pray because we have to. We read the Bible because of an obligation or just to accomplish the One-Year Bible reading target. Our children may take the BOSS program because we, as parents, forced them to. You’re involved in ministry because you must. You join CARE Cell because you are required to. The list can go on and on. If that’s the case, whatever you do now will eventually wear off and you may get tired, backslide, and even quit.

So, what then is Christ’s love? He sacrificed Himself because He loved us. This kind of love was “self-less.” This love involves a long term commitment to a higher purpose (see 1 Cor.13:4-7). That’s the kind of love God wants us to demonstrate in our relationships. Not the worldly kind that fades, but a supernaturally powered love that endures.

Some time ago, I read this quotation, “People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered, love them anyway! If you do good people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives, do good anyway! If you are successful you will win false friends and true enemies, succeed anyway! The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow, do good anyway! Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable, be honest and frank anyway! The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds, think big anyway! People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs, fight for the underdog anyway! What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight, build anyway! People really need help but may attack you if you help them, help people anyway! Give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth, give the world the best you’ve got anyway!”