What Does Love Look Like?

Love … always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. –1 Corinthians 13:6-8

This month, perhaps more than others, we are surrounded by all things ‘love’. Big red hearts, cuddly bears, chocolates in heart-shaped boxes and the reddest of red roses.

But is that what love looks like?

Often what we see around us is not always in line with God’s definition or demonstration of love. It’s the world’s view. If we truly want to understand love, then we have to look at God alone. Love isn’t just something He does, it’s who He is.

To understand how central love is to God’s very nature, read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (v4-8)

Love is the very foundation that we were built on. It was there in the beginning of creation, and it is there in the end in Revelation. The Bible tells us that it was for love that Jesus did what no other could do – die for us on the cross, so we could be alive in Him.

Jesus was the ultimate example of true, deep, and unconditional love. He loved the sinners; He loved the broken; He even loved the people who nailed Him to the cross. Jesus loved with a love that goes beyond our understanding.

Not only can we read about the true love of God in the Bible, but we can experience it and have access to it all the time.

He wants us to encounter His love each and every day.

But sometimes, we feel far from that reality. Life can be overwhelming. Difficult circumstances  can numb us and spiritually drain us—making us feel like we are slipping away from God. The only way forward is to return to Him— to the loving arms of our Father.

It can take time, but returning to God begins with a simple step—sitting down and talking to Him. As soon as we begin to draw near, we can experience the unconditional love of God meeting us where we are. By telling Him about our hurt and apologizing for not coming to Him sooner, our spirits can fill with peace as we feel God’s loving embrace surrounding us.

God loves us so much.

This truth reflects the story of the prodigal son. When the son returned home, the first thing his father did was love him and celebrate him.

Perhaps today is the day to feel the love of the Father again. For anyone who has drifted, now is the time to come back. Those feelings of rejection, of being overlooked by the world, or believing the lie of being “unlovable”—those are not the Father’s words.

The truth is this: God loves you deeply, beyond our understanding. His love covers our blemishes, its bigger than our fears and failures, and it is strong enough to deal with any pain. It pursues us and gathers us in again, picks us up when we fall down and whispers to our aching heart.

It never fades.
It never faints.
It never fails.

Just take a moment to allow the love of God to surround you again as you read through the words of this hymn from the 1904 Welsh Revival, “Here is Love.”

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav'n's eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav'n's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.