A Love Worth Dying For

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 in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV
     What is love? Is it what we see in Hollywood? "Love" based upon sudden impulses and physical attraction. Or does it go beyond that? A love that is selfless, unchanging and never ending: a love worth dying for.
     In the Bible we find the greatest love story of all time: the story of a Father sending His one and only Son to free the human race. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 ESV). This love isn't the selfish love that Hollywood portrays. It is a pure and perfect and self-sacrificing love.         "Yea," we may argue. "But that is God's love, it goes pass my own. I can't love that way." But that's not what the Bible tells us. In John 15:12-13, Jesus tells us, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (ESV)." And throughout the Bible we see this same pattern; true love is self-sacrificing.
     Love is when a father devotes his life to providing for his family. Love is when a mother lays everything down to tend to her child. Love is when siblings stand up for each other. Love is when a spouse gives up his/her dreams for their beloved. Love is when someone gives up His life to save the world.  Love is selfless.
"Love should be unconditional. It shouldn't be 'I will love you if...' It should be 'I will love you no matter what."- Gilbert Morris, The Heavenly Fugitive