Someone Greater than Shakespeare is Here

In I John 4:8, the Scripture reveals that "God is love." Greek does not have an indefinite article (Jehovah's Witnesses would do well to pay attention); thus, the verse is not read "God is a love," as if God is one form of many loves. There is no love that exists outside of God. In our modern secularized world, we have learned to compartmentalize "religious" love and the types of love in all other areas: marriage, children, peppered steak, etc. Valentine's Day stands as an example of the corruption sinful man has placed over this one word.

Movies and romance novels talk endlessly about finding "true love." This idea of love seems a mysterious force that, like the wind, is something that cannot be seen and is lost from our reaches. Love is reduced to a feeling, or primal sensation, which explodes in mutual pleasure when the mysterious "soul-mate" that this mysterious force fated for you is found. The world's view of love is utterly selfish in its nature and is founded on an idol god. True love, in this view, is an explosion of personal emotion and has its value solely upon personal pleasure. Have we any wonder, then, that people in the world "fall out of love" and never commit in marriage?

Instead of exhaustively displaying what love is not, allow me to suggest that the love of Christ is greater than the world's depiction of love. The world's love is prompted by something in someone outside of you: their attractiveness, their kindness, perfect characteristics, love poems, and the like. God loves us with a perfect and eternal love from His own perfect goodness (Psalm 25:6-7) and, therefore, His love is not dependent on any attribute of us (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). What marvelous good news! God's love remains on His chosen, not because we are great, wise, or sinless, but because God is good.

The world's love often fails to commit, and even if a commitment is made one can "fall out of love" and break that commitment Yet, because God's love is based solely on His goodness, God enters a covenant that we did not earn (Ephesians 2:8-9) and His commitment is eternal (Psalm 103:17). Follow Arthur W. Pink's logic:

God Himself is eternal, and God is love; therefore, as God Himself had no beginning, His love had none.

God will never fall out of love with His people. In I Corinthians 13:8-10, Paul describes how God's love is permanent against God's gifts. Two things we might infer from this passage about God's love:
(1) God's love is permanent.
(2) God's love is expressed in permanence and not gifts.
So, unlike many in the world where love is solely expressed in gift giving (like flowers and chocolate on Valentine's Day), God's love is displayed in how He changed our status before Him (from sinners to righteous) and His love's permanence rather than simply giving us stuff (such as fulfilling felt needs or speaking in tongues). The beloved of God cannot even begin to comprehend the joyous pleasure of receiving God's eternal love; however, our love is shown as worship to our loving God by faithful obedience to His commands (John 14:23-24).

The world's love parasitically feeds pleasure from others like leeches. God loves in such a way to include many who deserve His wrath. Jesus came and died for us to show us the greatest love by dying for His chosen. Before creation, He chose some of us freely out of His love that is founded solely upon His goodness and for His praise and not our characteristics (Ephesians 1:4-6). This praise we give by our faithful obedience to His commands because God lovingly gave us the gift of faith which enables our once dead hearts to have a desire to lovingly worship our God. So, the world may have Shakespearean love and extravagant princess-style weddings for selfish pleasure that is temporary. Someone greater than Shakespeare is here. "Love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:12-13). Thus, husbands love Christ by teaching Scripture to His wife and loving her as God loves him, not when she is nice to him or by anything she has or does, but because the man loves Christ. Likewise, wives love their husbands as Christ loves her, not for the gifts he brings or being "Mr. Right," but because of her love for Christ. Marital love is not an emotional sensation that explodes in carnal pleasure, but a mutual submission to and worship of the God who is love. The perfect gift to your spouse for today's celebration is having faith in Christ and "to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge"...every day.

Suggested Reading:
The Attributes of God  Chapter 15 entitled "The Love of God" by A.W. Pink