What is Love? posted by John Sorensen on Feb 04, 2019

You know that noise your smoke detector makes when it needs new batteries? It causes some annoyance and anxiety, doesn’t it? That piercing noise just may be the most annoying sound in the world! No one wants to be around that! You know, sometimes we can be that loud noise no one wants to hear. The Apostle Paul says we can do very good things, but if our words are not spoken out of love, it’s just a bunch of noise.

What is love? Now, I’m not talking about romantic love. That’s a fleeting emotion that won’t be consistent throughout time – it’s certainly not unconditional. I am talking about the unwavering, unconditional love of God. First John says we love because He first loved us! So, without the love of Jesus, we’ll never know what true love is. Can you imagine never knowing the love of God? The way in which we communicate the love of Christ must admit that we, too, need His love and grace as much as the person we’re sharing with.

Friends, let’s make sure we are spreading the love of Jesus to everyone we can. How can we do this? First, we need to know what the Bible says about love, so let’s look at First Corinthians 13 – what a lot of people call the Love Chapter!

Paul describes love like this…

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wronging but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”

Just that first attribute of love – patience – is so hard to live out! Kindness doesn’t come easily, either. Being selfless, well, that’s hard. Endurance certainly doesn’t come without practice. In fact, the Biblical definition of love is very hard to live out. Don’t worry, though! God didn’t give His Word to perfect people who love perfectly. God gave us His Word, and His Love Chapter, to show us His own love for us.

‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ That’s kind. That’s enduring. So, how do we follow Christ and love like He does? 

We can start by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By speaking in kindness and with a heart that believes God really does want to save us, and will, if we will ask Him.

Not everyone will have a change of heart within a matter of minutes in your first conversation. Oftentimes, it will take patience. Ask the Lord to help you love the way He does, patiently and kindly, expecting to see the fruit of His love at the right time.

This is our focus this week at Evangelism Explosion through our social media channels and our daily broadcast. We’re going to talk about loving God and people – imitating Christ!

If you have a smart phone, download our EE Helps App in the App Store. This will be a great tool to help you share the love of Jesus! We also have tracts available at ShareLife.Today. Go share God’s love, and may He richly bless you as you do!

This is a transcript taken from Conversations with John #27