Pause for Thought: What exactly is the kind of love that the bible talks about?
What is Love? Is it the first flutter of butterflies found in a kiss? Or is it a journey of endurance walked over a lifetime of commitment to being patient, kind and caring towards one another?
Jesus said that the most important commandment of all is Love. For without love, who are we? What is our purpose in life?
So, what exactly is the kind of love that the bible talks about?
St Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth wrote that love is patient, kind and selfless. This kind of love reconciles families, cares for the sick and looks for the good in others.
It doesn’t start wars. It is not greedy, and it shares what it has with others. Imagine a world where everyone’s priority was to ensure that their neighbour’s needs were met, and that no-one went without food or shelter?
Our world can be a very dark place. History is peppered with acts of terrorism, oppression, war, greed, inequality, and injustice... Yet today, nothing has changed.
The media tells us we must learn from past mistakes made in not protecting a child from pitiful death at the hands of an abusive perpetrator – until it happens again. Mistakes must be learned when a radical idealist breaks into a dance class intent on killing innocent little girls.
We are quick to point fingers at who we think is to blame – the government, social services, the police and intelligence services. Maybe we need to take a closer look at ourselves. Collectively every single one of us has it within us to submit to Satan’s will to do evil. We also have it within us to submit to God’s will.
We have a creator who loves us so much that he sacrificed his only son for us, in order that we could be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus. Cleansed for a sin that goes back to the beginning of humanity in the Garden of Eden, and a fallen angel intent on destroying the one who created him and the rest of the universe. We are unwittingly polishing Satan’s crown for him to rule and destroy us.
The devil currently has dominion over this earth, and only one thing can overpower him – the mighty name of Jesus whose light we must walk in to crush the enemy.