Hi, Friend!

I promise we’ll get back to the Book of Psalms later this week, but with all of the attention that Valentine’s Day brings to love, I thought we should spend a couple of days exploring God’s love and learning what love truly is. Let’s start by defining love God’s way:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

Love – a four letter word that is both a noun and a verb, a concept and an action.

Defining love as a noun, most dictionaries provide something in the realm of “deep affection for another” or “an interest or pleasure in something”.  

Using love as a verb, I can say that:

I love my family. I love my friends. I love my church kiddos (even the squirrely ones!). 

But…I also love my friend Rebecca’s boxer, Tyson, because his ears perk up and his whole back-end wags when he sees me.

And…I love my friend Darlene’s apple slab pie, and my NordicTrack studio bike, oh…and the hands-free feature in my car that allows me to text and drive safely. 

As a verb, love is a word that we seriously misuse and overuse in the English language. 

How could I possibly feel the same way about my family as I feel about my friend’s pie?

My studio bike holds 30 minutes of my attention each day; my church kiddos hold a HUGE part of my heart.

Part of understanding the truth that God is love and that God loves us is understanding what love actually is. Modern usage of the word love encompasses everything from likes to preferences to affection to desire. It’s no wonder we have gaps between our heads and our hearts in this area. We can’t even fully settle on what the word love means!

Sweet friend, human definitions will always fail us in the end. But God, God never fails. It’s going to take more time my usual devotions, but it’s worth it. Let’s dive into God’s Word and into His definition of love. 

1. Grab a piece of paper, or open up the notes app on your phone and make the chart below.
2. Read some or all of the following verses.
3. Use the characteristics of love that you find in each one to complete the chart below.
   • Tip: Sometimes God’s Word explicitly tells us what love is not; other times we must examine what love is to determine what love is not. (Love is patient; therefore, love is not rash.)

– 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 – John 14:15 and 15:13 – Matthew 5:43-48 – Ephesians 2:1-10

– Ephesians 4:1-3 – Leviticus 19:18 – Proverbs 17:9 – Psalm 86:15

– 1 John 3:11 – John 3:16-18 – Romans 12:9-10 – Romans 13:8-10

Love is…	Love is not…

Reflection

1. Review the characteristics of love on the “Love is…” side of the chart. Write a definition of what love is based on God’s Word.
2. Review the characters of what love is not on the “Love is not…” side of the chart. Write a statement sharing what love is not based on God’s Word.
3. Reflect on the definition and the statement you have written based on what you learned about love in God’s Word.
   1. How does reading more about God’s definition of love help you understand God’s love for you? About who God is?
   2. How can you expect God’s love to show up in your life? What forms could that take? What forms have you looked for in the past? What might you look for moving forward?
   3. What kind of love does God expect us to show Him? To show others?

Prayer

Pray, thanking God for the clarity of His Word, for the ability to find perfect truth in His definition of love.

Praise God for the characteristics of His love, remembering that God is love – therefore, God is patient, God is kind, God is faithful, and so much more.

Petition God to help you apply His definition of love to how you look for His love and how you show His love to others.