How to Recognize True Love

Plenty of hate in the world today. Plenty of violence. The world needs God’s love. But what does that mean?

How do you know when you are in the presence of love? Is it a feeling? A state of being?

The Bible, via the ever-direct Apostle Paul, devotes an entire chapter to the subject – and it’s tough:

• It is patient (very patient)
• It is not possessive or competitive (is generous)
• It is not rude (or bitter or contemptuous)
• It bears all things (endures wrongs and doesn’t share them with others)
• It believes all things (is not cynical)
• It hopes all things (stays positive)
• And it endures all things (resists the temptation to return evil for evil).

It governs its thoughts. But what is it exactly?

Fact is, we only know we are in the presence of love when we see it in action. Feelings of love without the expression of love are lifeless and powerless.

In his book, Love Does, Bob Goff writes:

I used to think being a believer was enough, but now I know Jesus wants us to participate, no matter what condition we’re in.

Love acts. It reaches out. It does not refrain from doing good.

God so loved the world that He gave and loved and gave and loved. Here are a few more thoughts from Goff’s book:

• Love is the strongest sustaining power in the universe. We can rest in the knowledge of God’s love for us.
• Love is the strongest resisting power.  When we are preoccupied with the work of love, temptation has far less effect on us.
• Love is the strongest attracting power. Few human beings can resist the power of God’s love generously shared by His people.

As Christians we are children of God and, therefore, children of love. It is our ministry in the world. And families, in the way they conduct themselves toward one another in the home, are to be the incubator of its work.

No need to delay getting on with the business of love. Who knows what God is waiting to do through us in this broken world.

What could love be doing through you today?