Love

Have you ever heard Roberto Cavalli's understanding of love? He said, "I love you if you love me."

We can dismiss or even mock this idea, but I wonder if it isn't honest? The heart behind Cavelli's quote is a major reason we don't see love online: because we're passive and sentimental about love. We wait for others to love us. We wait until we feel loving.

But how does the Bible describe love?

The Bible teaches us that love is active and intentional. The Bible is exceptionally clear in its description of love. As 1 John 4:9-10 says, "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins."

In fact, "God is love" (1 John 4:16). And God shows us what love looks like by making sacrifices for our benefit. Jesus willingly bore the price for our sins so that we might experience life with God.

And how does the Bible motivate us to love?

Often, we know we should love, but we don't feel like it. The Bible teaches us that love is the work of God's spirit in our spirit. As we experience God's love for ourselves, we gain the desire to love others.

So while the following verses might be familiar, they don't do us any good if we don't prayerfully consider how to apply them.

To benefit from today's lesson, you need to get beyond the spiritual haze of good intentions and write out a specific, detailed understanding of what love looks like online.