Written By: Mary Martinez
Have you ever bought the off-brand of a product that you usually buy the name brand of and, after trying it, instantly regretted it? It didn’t taste the same; the texture was off; the smell was odd; it didn’t compare to the name brand at all. It left you disappointed and wishing for the real thing.
Did you know there is an “off-brand” of love? It’s a false love claiming to be the real thing, but no matter how it’s advertised or presented, it can never measure up because this kind of love never satisfies. The world is constantly trying to redefine, reshape, and recreate love to lure us in and fool us into falling for it. Yet this kind of love cannot and will never be a substitute for the real thing, and we will always long for the original love, as described in God’s Word.
Let’s face it, we all long to be loved, so where is real love found, and how can we obtain it? Pure, undefiled love is only found in and from the source. This is real love:
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for LOVE COMES FROM GOD. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever doesn’t love does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. THIS IS LOVE: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4)
“God so loved the world that He gave us his one and only son.” (John 3:16)
“God demonstrates His own LOVE for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3)
Love absent of God is not love. It’s a cheap imitation that will never fulfill or last. Worldly love parades around pretending to be love but can never replace biblical love. God’s Word is clear. God is love; love comes from God. He alone is the source of love, and we love because He loved us first. Biblical love is what our hearts long for and the only love that can satisfy us.
God’s love is much richer, deeper, and more complex than our human minds can comprehend or imagine. God holds the secret recipe, and only in Him and through Him can we experience or show true love. In our pursuit of love, let us be watchful and alert so that we aren’t deceived by the false advertising of the enemy and this world.
There is only one true love, and that love is from God. He is the source, and He is Love.
Written By: Mary Martinez
