Perfect Love
Does perfect love exist? Can anything be referred to as perfect? Or does perfection exist?
These are some of the questions brooding through my mind as I engage myself in this month’s theme.
First of all, we should talk about love. What it is and what it is not.
Let’s start with what love is not;
- Love is not a feeling; it is much deeper than that.
- Love is not an emotion; you would be limiting its power by calling it an emotion.
- Love is not passion; seems close to it but not it. Passion can be abused, Love cannot be abused.
- Love is not romance; this is being a little bit raw or practical. It seems demeaning to say that love is romance. It no doubt could express Love, but it is not in itself Love.
What is Love?
- Love is a practical expression: It is not abstract like feelings, emotions, passion; it can be seen, felt, experienced and handled.
- Love is giving selflessly: It really does not matter how it affects you, how much it costs you; what really matters is the person you are giving to, the receiver.
- Love is God: This is absolutely the best definition you can give to Love because, no other definition can satisfy or fully explain it.
This is where our theme is drawn from. Our perspective of love has led us to believe that it can never be perfect. Our limited human nature has resulted in the impossibility of perfection; perfection, seen as not achievable, and we are not wrong in our conclusions because as human beings we are flawed, we make mistakes, we are self-conscious, self-ish, we are only concerned about ourselves more than anyone or anything else.
Thus, it is hard to say that Love from a man can be perfect. The truth is, it is most times imperfect. This however does not mean that Perfect Love in itself does not exist, because it does exist, not just within the scope of the human ability.
Let me show you something interesting in the bible;
1 John 4:19;
We love Him, because He first loved us (KJV)
We Love because God first loved us (ERV)
We, though, are going to love – love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. (MSG)
What was John trying to tell us here?
Our ability to love is based on Him loving us first. In other words, there is no way we can show love without Him showing us how to love, and He did this by first loving us.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
So we see Him showing us how to love by loving first. His love is perfect and it is from Him alone that we can learn Perfect Love.
No man can show us how to love because many of us do not even know what it means to love. Imagine Paul talking to the Corinthians about love, explaining to them that regardless of the gifts you manifest, you are still not guaranteed to be a person of Love. The height of it for me was when He said; even if we give ourselves to be burned and we still do not have love…
Are you kidding me? What else would make me give myself to be burnt if not love? I still have not been able to fully comprehend this statement. But it made me realize the fact that regardless of what we do in the name of love, love can still be absent if we are doing with our human abilities and perspective.
Love is love because it is perfect. Imperfect love is no love because Love in itself is perfect and there is no better person to show us how to love than Love Himself, God who came in the form of man, gave no thought for Himself or what He would have liked or how to be comfortable despite the greatness of power He had available to Him. Rather, He endured the cross, despised the shame and humiliation just for a generation of people who had no clue and didn’t care either.
His Love was perfect not because He was beaten, spat upon, even killed just for us; His love was perfect because He gave life. Love gives life, Love gives hope, Love saves.
If all He did, did not result into life, hope and salvation, it would not be perfect; It would not be Love.
Let Him show you how to love. There is no better lover than God, no better giver and no other Savior.
You cannot show perfect love if you have never experienced it.
Would you like to experience this perfect love? Speak to Jesus, He is the way to Perfect Love. Confess all your flaws and imperfections to Him today. He loves you too much to let you go. He will forgive you and make you a new person; a person with the ability to show Perfect Love.
You are Never Alone.
