The word LOVE was front and center recently, as Dr. Jill Biden wore it on her back.  Dr Biden says it was part of an effort to promote unity.   I do believe in love….and I believe in unity (though not at any cost)…….but I wonder if LOVE is really understood.  What is it, really?  Where does it come from?  How do you get it?

You can work a lifetime and accumulate great wealth, but you cannot buy love.   You may purchase acceptance and accolades.  Not love.

You can give your life to a good cause…..environmentalism or equality or a cure for cancer.  You can purchase admiration or gratefulness.  Not love.

If you have been gifted with an unusual talent or athletic ability, with hard work and dedication you may rise to the top of your chosen field and garnish much praise.  You can purchase notoriety and fame.  Not love.

If you are the smartest person in the room, if you can predict the future, and understand the mysteries of this world, you can make a lot of noise and people will listen to you.  You can purchase a following…but not love.

And yet, the ONLY answer for our poor lost world is real LOVE.

If you are wondering what real love is, I know of no better definition than what is found in the famous words of 1 Corinthians 13.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It ⁱdoes not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;² 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,endures all things.

8 Love never ends.

If you go with this definition, you realize that real love is not attainable within ourselves.  We are a self-seeking species.  On our own, we all must admit times when we have been impatient, unkind, envious, arrogant, rude  and irritable.

So where does real love come from?

1 John 4:7 – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Real love comes from only one source.  It comes from God. That is why Jesus says “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have lovefor one another.”   (John 13:35)

If the world wants to find a way to dwell in peace, to care for all peoples, to help each people group to be nourished and prosperous, the ONLY answer is to turn to our creator and seek His love.   He can change us so we truly love others.  And when we truly love others, we will want what is best for them, as well as ourselves, and answers will be found.

As Charles Spurgeon said,

LOVE IS AN EXOTIC PLANT; IT DOES NOT GROW NATURALLY IN HUMAN SOIL

So what is going to happen?

It seems that the human race is deciding to go it alone.  We have decided that we were, in fact, not created.  We have decided that we evolved by natural forces, that there is no absolute truth, and definitely no God given moral law.  We no longer know what we don’t know.

1 Corinthians 13 also says that if we take all our knowledge, our powers, our achievements and try to solve the problems of this world without God and His love, we will be noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, but we will GAIN NOTHING!

Unfortunately, I hear a lot of noise…. a lot of gongs and cymbals.   I fear that nothing is where we are headed.