What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Do you remember Tina Turner’s iconic song, What’s Love Got to Do With It? In 1984, everyone was singing, “What’s Love Got to Do, got to do with it? What’s love but a secondhand emotion? What’s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” So, what does love got to do with it? EVERYTHING!!! The answer is EVERYTHING! The issue is we base our love for others on our feelings. Sadly, feelings are not facts, they betray us because they change. All too often love is portrayed opposite of what the Bible says love should look like.

The Bible says that you can give away all your “things” and you can even sacrifice your body, but if you don’t have love you gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3). 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 gives us the characteristics of love. It says, “Love is patient and love is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked and thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  Love never fails.” Yes, everyone has failed to love properly at some time in their life. If this characterizes love, some of us have never truly felt love outside of the love of Christ.

Based on what the God says, love has everything to do with it. Without love in our lives we can feel inadequate. Without showing love to others we fail to represent Christ well. The word love is mentioned in the King James Bible 310 times, but as translations emerge the number of times the word is mentioned increases. For example, it is mentioned 361 times in the New King James version. Nonetheless, 310 or 361, love is very important to God. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” "Christ shows His love for us and commands us to love each other as He has loved us" (John 15:12) and goes on to say there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). There’s no doubt that "God demonstrated His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). So, what does love have to do with it? EVERYTHING.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us, for choosing us, for sending Your only Son to die for us. Lord, my sins, the world’s sins were nailed upon that cross, past present, and future. With one word, Tetelestai, my sin debt was paid in full. No one can verbally thank You enough, but we can love each other as You loved us. We can love our neighbor like we love ourselves. We can try our best to practice love as characterized by You. Forgive us when we fall short but thank You for such a perfect example. In Jesus name, Amen.
By Sis. Patricia Towns