Love is quite possibly one of the most constantly discussed topics in the world. It is one of, if not the most, commonly used theme in entertainment media: music, movies, novels, poems, TV shows, and even games. It is the main theme of the Bible. I consider the Bible to be the greatest love story ever told; the story of how much God loves all of us. However, it is also a topic of much dissension and confusion. Jesus’ final command to us was to love each other; reminding us that people would know we were His followers by how we loved. The world is clearly obsessed with the idea of love; a quick listen to the radio or a study of recent movie releases will quickly confirm that. The post-modern Christian movement even bases their entire belief system on loving and accepting everyone. Love is important to all three groups, so why can’t any of us really seem to agree on much when it comes to love? How can one topic cause so many arguments?
I think we have to accept that there is more than one kind of love. More specifically, there is Christ’s LOVE and the world’s love. It would seem somewhere along the line the two have gotten confused and both the world and some Christians believe they are the same thing, when in fact they are more different than they are alike. I would like to take the time to analyze the two different types of love. After all, if we look at John 13:34 we can see that Jesus didn’t just command us to love, He commanded us to love like Him, so it would seem pretty important for us to know the difference. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). How does the world love, how did Jesus love, and why is it so important for Christians to show the love of Christ?
Unconditional & Eternal vs. Acceptance & Fickle
Jesus’ love is an unconditional love. It isn’t based on what we do; it is purely based on who He is. We can’t do anything to make Him love us more or mess up so He will love us less. His love is constant and unwavering. He loves us the same at our best and worst. He never gives up on us or grows tired of us. There is never a point when you will get on Jesus’ nerves and He will tell you that He just needs some space. He always wants a relationship with us and has even sent the Holy Spirit so that He can be with us all the time.
Jesus’ love is based on who He is; The World’s love is based on who you are.
The world’s love is not based on what the world is, but instead, based on who we are and how the world percieves us. If we are accepted, we will be loved, but if not, we will be rejected and labeled as an outcast. While God’s love is eternal, the world’s love is fickle at best: relationships grow sour, marriages end, friendships die. The world’s love comes and goes. The world needs you to improve yourself in order to fit the mold it has created. You can see it in most ads for fashion and beauty products. You need to look better than you do. You need to dress better than you do, because if you don’t, the world can’t possibly accept and love you. The world feeds off of our fear of being alone, while God assures us that He will never leave us.
Healing vs. Destructive
God’s love is healing. He is always looking to restore us, to make us whole again. Before His crucifixion, Jesus told Peter that He would deny Him three times before the roosters crow. He knew it was going to happen. He knew that Peter’s fear would cause him to attempt to separate himself from any association with Jesus. However, Jesus also knew that Peter’s weakness would cause a great amount of grief and shame. After Jesus, resurrection He talked to Peter and asked, “do you love me?” When Peter said “Yes,” He asked the same question again. Jesus asked Peter that question 3 times allowing Peter to confirm his love each time. Jesus didn’t do this by accident. He wasn’t trying to trick Peter and He certainly wasn’t repeating the question because He didn’t hear the answer. He was giving Peter a chance to redeem himself from the denial. He was giving Peter an opportunity to erase the guilt and shame he felt for denying Jesus, by allowing him to profess his love for Jesus, once for each time he denied it. Jesus could have held a grudge and told Peter to go away, because he wasn’t strong enough, but that isn’t what God does. He doesn’t tear us down; He builds us up. Is that what we see in the world?
Jesus wants you to stand confident. He wants you to stand strong and assured in who you are. He loves you just like this, whatever this may look like.
Sadly, the world tends to have a very different kind of love. This fickle love causes the person who wants to be loved to give so much of themselves away, they run the risk of giving away too much. The world’s love will leave a hole that needs to be filled and all sorts of destructive behaviors take place in an attempt to fill that hole. People use love to control people far too often. The worlds love will tear you down in an attempt to create a new you that it feels it can love more. Unfortunately, far too many people don’t survive the tear down process, which is why we see suicide rates as high as they are. Although, even if you do survive and you think you are making the steps to improve yourself for the world, the world will simply find something else to throw at you: too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too stupid, too smart, you should be blonde, you should be a redhead, you need blue eyes, you need green eyes, your hair should be longer, but not that long, short but not that short. You can’t win. Nothing you do will ever be good enough for everyone and little by little the world will chip away at your confidence. Jesus wants you to stand confident. He wants you to stand strong and assured in who you are. He loves you just like this, whatever this may look like. Do you want to change something? Do you want to get healthier or maybe you are thinking about a new hairstyle? Guess what He will love you like that too.
Sacrificial vs. Selfish
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God didn’t have to send His son to die. Honestly, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that our creator who is so much greater would love and care for us enough to leave heaven, come to earth, take on the body of his own creation to die and act as the sacrifice for our sins. However, that is exactly what He did. He allowed himself to be beaten, tortured, shamed, and killed in the most violent way possible; so we didn’t have to have that fate. Jesus didn’t just say that He loved us. He didn’t just say He wanted to be with us. He sacrificed Himself to make that a reality. How about the world? Is the love of the world sacrificial?
Jesus laid down His life for the people who accept Him, the people who reject Him, the people who love Him, the people who hate Him, and even the people who killed Him.
Unfortunately, the love of the world tends to be very selfish. We tend to act in our self-interests. In fact, it could be argued that even when we do things for others we are really doing it because of how it benefits us: either by making us feel good or look good. I’m not saying that you won’t find people in the world doing nice things for each other. You most certainly do, but I’m saying you will rarely see this happen without some sort of selfish agenda. You see it all the time even between friends and spouses. It is all part of the “I scratch your back you scratch mine” mentality. In fact, the reciprocation is even implied in the “Golden Rule.” Treat others the way you want to be treated…so they will treat you the same way. Jesus gave His blood for all even though He knew that many would never accept it. He knew He had nothing to gain, because we have nothing that we can offer an almighty God. He laid down His life for the people who accept Him, the people who reject Him, the people who love Him, the people who hate Him, and even the people who killed Him.
Always Comes First vs. Blossoms in Time
Jesus always started with love. He loved unconditionally and brought people to Him. He would heal people and answer questions even when those questions were meant to trap Him. He would sit down and eat with people whom the religious leaders didn’t think He should be eating with. It wasn’t that Jesus was unaware they were considered unsavory characters. It wasn’t that He didn’t realize it could damage His reputation with the elite. He just didn’t care, because He loved them too much to not sit with them. He loved them too much to not talk to them. He cared too much to just walk on by.
In the world, we tend to say that love has to blossom; it will grow with time or they need to get to know each other first. We have to like somebody first and then maybe we will grow to love somebody. We will say that we love taco bell, but we won’t say that we love our friends, maybe just our best friends, otherwise it is weird. We care about strangers, but we probably wouldn’t say that we love them. We save the word love for our closest friends, family, and significant others. Jesus doesn’t need time to decide if He loves you. He loved you before you were even created.
Leads to the Truth vs. Aimless
Whenever Jesus talked to people, it was never at random. It may have seemed random to the person He was talking to, but He always had a purpose. He was and is always trying to point us to the truth. He is always trying to bring us closer. It isn’t that He doesn’t love us the way we are, but that He loves us enough to want the best for us. He is willing to take the time to build a trusting relationship so He can reveal the truth to us. He doesn’t do it for His benefit, but rather He is pointing us to the truth of the cross because He knows it will benefit us. He doesn’t want anything from us, but He wants everything for us. Jesus told Pilate that He came to testify to the truth. His love is always leading us to the truth, always leading us to something better.
The world will watch you destroy yourself in perfect silence, because to the world it is more loving to let you die than to speak the truth and show you how to live.
The world’s love doesn’t really lead anywhere, because it doesn’t even know where it is meant to be heading. The world will most likely have you believing a lot of lies about whom you are and what you are supposed to be doing, but it certainly won’t lead you to the truth. According to the world, a loving relationship has to be beneficial to both parties. Meaning I won’t love you unless I am getting something out of it. The world will watch you destroy yourself in perfect silence, because to the world it is more loving to let you die than to speak the truth and show you how to live. The world’s views and ideals are constantly changing, meaning love in the world is constantly changing with it. If the foundation for the world’s love is constantly changing how can it lead to anything other than confusion? Jesus is eternal and so is His Love. It is always there and always leading to the same place. It is never based on what you can do for Him, but rather, it is all about His grace and what He has done for you.
The post-modern movement may speak of love and preach love but sadly they teach and show the love of the world.
I have barely scratched the surface here, but I think it is pretty clear there is a huge difference between the Perfect LOVE of God and the flawed love of the world. The problem with the fluffy post-modern Christian movement isn’t that they put love first. The problem is that they forgot the key part to the New Commandment: To love others as Christ has loved us. They speak of love and preach love but sadly they teach and show the love of the world. The love never leads to the truth. They claim it is unconditional, but really it requires you to at least share the same love above all message that they do. It may make people feel good, it may tickle their ear, but in the end, it is empty, flawed, selfish and pointless. It has absolutely no chance of leading them to the truth.
What type of love do you think is better? Would you rather experience the love of Christ or the love of the world? What type of love do you think is truly limitless? What type of love do you think really has the power to heal the sickness of the world? What type of love do you think can transform nations? What type of love do you think can obliterate racial barriers and overcome all forms of bigotry? Which love, do you think will be effective in bringing people to know Christ? Now, which love are you practicing? When people look at you, what type of love do they see?
All Christians should be putting love first, but we have to make sure it is the right kind of love. It has to be a Christian love. It has to be an unconditional, sacrificial, restorative love. That type of love will bring people to you and build trust. That type of love will spread like wildfires. That type of love will open people up to the truth.
