“Real Love”
By Zach Wood
1 John 4:10-12 NLT
This is real love—not
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take
away our sins. Dear friends, since God
loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each
other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
We sure are bombarded every single day with sources claiming
to show us “real love”. From TV, movies,
social media, books, magazines, etc. Everywhere we look we see some sort of
message conveying what love should look like or how it should be. Or, more than that, how it should feel.
We get a better picture when we consider the love that comes
from family, friends and other loved ones.
People who are close to us often try hard to show us genuine love. Not always, but they try.
No matter how hard other people try to show us love, there
is no greater display of “real love” than what God did for us on the Cross
through Jesus Christ. There is absolutely
nothing greater, nothing. You can search
the world and the universe and find no greater display of affection and love
than God Himself. I’ve never personally
known a greater love than Him.
I’ve trusted other sources of love in the past and been burned
by many. I turn one way and I think that
will show me love then….burn. I turn
another way thinking I had finally found some sort of display of true love and
then again….burn.
We have all turned to many sources expecting something real
with love. We have all been burned. Some of us have really been burned very
badly. Sometimes, we get burned so bad
that we really don’t believe that true love actually exists anymore.
Friends, God loved us so much that He showed us a form of
love that had never been shown before and never will again. God’s display of real love goes beyond
anything we can ever imagine. God’s
display of love through Jesus Christ is the most real and genuine form of love
we can ever possibly experience.
He not only gives His love, but then He also asks us to also
show others as He has shown us. It is a
love that is truly hard to show others at times, but He asks us to do it
unconditionally because He Himself has shown us that love unconditionally as
well. God’s love is true and genuine and
full of life! It is a love that He has
shown to us and then commands us to pour out to others, as hard as that may be
at times.
God is truly real, authentic and genuine love to the
core.