Love is more than a feeling.
Listen to how the Bible describes love
using words that are probably very familiar to you
if you've ever been to a wedding in a church.
From 1 Corinthians 13.
Do you see what I mean?
Love is more than a feeling.
In fact, the Apostle Paul, the way he describes it,
he would say the question is not so much, "What is love"
but "What does love do?"
Love is as much an action too.
And now since God's love
is what provides us with the motivation and inspiration
to love one another.
Understanding God's love is key.
So what I want to do is I just want to walk through
three beautiful passages that describe
God's love for us
to see what's involved with this special "agape", selfless love.
So, the first passage is from John 3:16,.
You know it well.
So what's involved with this love?
What does this love do?
This love gives.
And it doesn't give its leftovers.
It gives its most prized possession.
God loved you so much that he gave his Son.
Why?
Because he was seeking your ultimate good.
He was seeking your salvation.
This kind of love never asks the question,
"What about me?"
It only ever asks the question,
"What do they need right now?"
And so what can you give to your spouse today?
The next passage I want to talk about is
from John as well.
John 15 where Jesus says,
And obviously he's talking about his love for us.
So what's involved with this love?
It has no boundaries.
And it is willing to endure pain, even.
Jesus was willing to go all the way
to the point of death on a cross for us.
This love is substitutionary.
It's willing to take someone else's pain so they don't have to.
Now, I think this one is
kind of funny because
when I think about this, I think
I'd be willing to die for my wife, right?
And all of the husbands out there,
I believe you when you say that you would be willing
to step in front of a bullet for your wife.
You would be willing to give your life for her.
I absolutely believe that.
But the thing is, God doesn't ask most of us to do that.
Instead, he gives us
a whole bunch of little ways
that we can show this kind of love,
or this aspect of that love.
Let me just give you an illustration.
So, let's say that I want to meet with
you as a couple.
And I set up a meeting with your wife
and we make the appointment for,
we'll say 6:00.
Okay?
And then she's going to communicate that to you.
Well, she accidentally tells you that the meeting is at 6:30.
So on the night of the meeting,
she and I are sitting in the office having small talk
for half an hour and you show up at 6:30.
And I say to you, "Well, why are you late?
We had a meeting at 6."
What would you say?
Now, you could
substitutionally take her pain by just simply saying,
"Oh, I'm sorry, pastor. I was late."
But what would you say?
Oh, you would throw her under a bus in a heartbeat, wouldn't you?
You would say, "Well, she told me 6:30!"
God gives us so many little ways
to live for the ones we claim to be willing to die for.
And the third passage I want to look at
is from Romans 5.
Did you catch that?
Not while we were good Christians.
Not while we were good people.
Not even while we were showing steady improvement.
No, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This love is totally undeserved and unconditional.
It doesn't depend on how
lovable the person is.
This love is willing to love even if the person doesn't deserve it.
And so I'll leave you with this today.
In any relationship,
I want you to know that you have the ability
to stop the downward spiral.
See, what happens is this.
Somebody behaves badly or says something hurtful.
And then what does the other person do?
They stoop to that level and
they say something hurtful in response.
And then this person feels vindicated.
And then they continue the downward spiral.
But you have the ability to stop that.
What happens when bitterness
meets grace and forgiveness?
Well, it's really hard to be mad at someone
who is trying to love you, right?
What do you want to do for the person
who is bending over backwards
to do what's best for you and to love you?
Well, you're going to want to respond in kind.
And the spiral can go up instead of down.
What do you want to do for someone who's
bending over backwards trying to do what's best for you?
You're going to want to do the same back to them.
And what kind of marriage will that be
if you can perfectly do that?
Well, that will be a marriage made in heaven.
Let's pray.
Dear Jesus, Bless our relationships
with the love that you show us.
Help our love to be giving,
unconditional and undeserved.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Thanks for watching today.
We're talking about God's love for us
and how that is the motivation and empowerment
for us to show love to others.
How has your spouse shown love in all of those little ways
that mean so much?
Have a great day.