1 John 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love”
In this month of February we shall see the commercialization of love.
We’ll see hearts posted at various stores, flowers arranged immaculately,
and hear advertisements on different gifts, all for the purpose of gearing
up for the celebration of love on Valentine’s Day. But one has to wonder,
how, in a culture that doesn’t mind celebrating the idea of love, at the
same time has to deal with issues that are clearly the result of a lack of
love.
In this society murder is still rampart. Rape and molestation seems to be
growing as a norm. Prostitution and addiction to drugs continue to destroy
the foundation of the family unit. A day is not enough to highlight this
great emotion because it is deficient to supply the demand that’s apparently
not being met on a day to day basis. There is good news, however, because in
the divinely inspired word of God we have a revelation of what true love looks
like. This month while the world prepares for one day we will show, by way of
the Scriptures, the biblical depictions of love that is able to change an
individual’s heart, and, thereby, truly discover What Love Is.
Webster defines love as an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion
causing one to appreciate, delights in, and craves the presence or possession
of another, and to please or promote the welfare of the other party. What a
lofty explanation! Yet in our society we do not understand, nor express these
properties because this modern society has moved from the standard of love
which is God. In our text this week we get an immediate definition of love and
its proper characteristics. We see that “God is love”.
In this world, it is impossible to understand love without a proper understanding
of God. Whether you believe it or not, God is the perfect expression and embodiment
of love. In Exodus 34:6 God speaks concerning this attribute that He possesses.
He states “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth”. What we have to understand, as the people of God,
is that we cannot truly understand the emotion of love if we don’t properly
understand who God is. Its worthy of repeat because this world seeks to remove God
from the very foundation of society. We have, legislatively, removed Him from our
courts, educational institutions, marital relationships and cultural relevance.
When the standard of love is removed we are only left with relative, and often
destructive expressions of love. The world’s love only leads to destruction.
