God is Love

Today I read in 1 John 4:16, "God is Love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." When I first read this I kind of skipped over the first part and read "whoever lives in love lives in God" and it made me hesitate... I thought whoever believes in Jesus lives in God? But then I backed up and saw the sentence before.. "God is love." And that changed everything. If God is love, then love is a lot of things. And not only is it a lot of things, but love is WAY different than how our culture defines it. It baffles me that our culture believes that the only way to love a person is to make them feel good, comfortable, and never challenge them. For one, a parent loves their child by disciplining them (telling them they are wrong which could in fact lead to tears or sadness). For two, a loving friend tells their friend to stop sleeping with multiple guys because of the physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences that follow (this could offend and embarrass the friend being called out). For Three, Jesus lovingly endured a painful death on a cross and the divine wrath of God so that the people that He loved could spend eternity with Him. All of these unpleasant, not comfortable situations are, in fact, full of love. So I do not understand cultures definition of love.

The world's definition of love says TAKE (what brings ME happiness and personal fulfillment?) and God's definition of love says GIVE (Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13) If God is the ultimate example of love we have to know how He loves. I am reading a book that overviews the entire story of the Bible and the themes of who God is throughout scripture. And I can confidently say that one of the main roles of God is pursuing His people unendingly. There are many aspects to God's Love that I cannot cover in this blog post, but one that I am certain of is His constant "giving of Himself" to his people when they NEVER deserved it. This is God: Let me show you the way, let me give you food, let me deliver you from slavery, let me protect you from harm, let me lead you, let me guide you, let me show you the best way to live. Our response: "Thanks God, but you're still not that important to me... but Hey, thanks for creating me big guy." No matter our response He still continues to give to us. Let this characteristic of God define your love. Are you looking to get from the world (significant other, family, friends, co-workers) or are you looking to give to them even when they don't deserve it? Are you looking to get what you want from God or give him all your love? Although this is a small portion of how God's love is different from the world's it causes me to examine my definition of love and ask myself if I am looking to be fulfilled by people or am I looking to give to them?
This only begins to define the difference between the world's love and the Lords.  More to come on this, hopefully!