“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for
God is love. In this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through him.” – 1 John 4: 8-9
Old Spice, Southwest, Apple; you know these companies by the
products they provide. Perhaps what you
don’t know is they are all famous for successfully re-branding themselves in
the market place. A classic marketing
technique; taking virtually the same product and changing what it looks like to
the consumer. For example, in the case
of Old Spice. What once was deodorant
for old men, is now a new experience that: “launches smell good phasers to
blast away your stink monsters.”(Quote from Old Spice commercial) It’s still deodorant, they are just
presenting to the people in a different light.
The idea of love in America is constantly being re-branded;
Magazines, Hollywood, Television, Social media, they all are continuously
taking love and presenting it to the consumer as he or she would want to see
it. The mentality is this: “love has no
labels, because we say it doesn’t. Love
has no responsibility, because we say it doesn’t. Love is a product that we can dress up or
dress down, we determine what love is and you the consumer are forced to accept
our presentation of it.” The idea that
we as humanity own love or rather can dictate what love is….well, that is as
silly as using deodorant as an analogy.
You see, GOD IS LOVE. Love
already has an identity and love already has ownership. The best and most powerful thing that we can
experience on this earth, is on this earth because of God. God gave us love and love will show us God. You cannot re-brand it, you cannot own it, and
you cannot say it exist where it does not.
Love has a label, it has an identity.
Jesus Christ is the manifestation of love, God’s love, toward
mankind. He was the spokesmen if you will,
he presented it, branded it, and offered it freely to the masses. God took the love that he owned, and offered
it to mankind through his son. This
truth can only be understood after it is first accepted in faith. If you believe that Christ was the Son of God
then you believe that the gospel he brought was from the Father; and if you
believe the gospel he brought and further died for, then you believe that God
is love and his love was manifested toward us in his Son. Therefore, when looking for love, we look no
further than Christ! If you’re looking
for it in another person then you’re looking in the wrong place. If you looking for it in your job, or
activity, or religion, or whatever; you are looking in the wrong place. It’s a counterfeit, and not the very love
that God would have for his creation.
You have to accept and embrace Christ before you can truly understand
and obtain perfect love. If you do, if
you have the faith to look past what the TV says, or what the government says,
or even what your own fleshly desire’s say; if you have faith to look to Jesus
and give your life to him then you understand and experience: real, genuine,
perfect love. This begs the question,
what is real, genuine, perfect love that is offered through Christ?
In short, it is life changing.
The Bible says “we might live
through him.” This life that is
given is twofold. The first being the
more obvious of the two, eternal life.
You get to go to heaven, avoid hell, and spend eternity with he who died
for you. That in and of itself is
enough, but there is more to the life that Christ gives. He makes alive that which is dead
inside. This inner man, it cannot be
seen, touched or quantified; but it is real and when Jesus brings it to life it
totally changes your life. When the love
of God fills you heart it causes you to love God. This means that you want to obey his Word,
and follow his instruction and do His will.
Also, it makes you love your neighbor (and helps you love your
enemies). You want well for them, you
want to help them and treat them right.
Furthermore, you want what God wants for them. You want them to have what you have, and God
will help you present it in a way that they can have it to. The way Jesus did.
Bottom line, God’s love, perfect love, THE love: makes you a
follower of Christ. Society tells us
that love is whatever we want it to be. That
love is like everything else in this world, put here for you, right? The devil sells this counterfeit to any and
every buyer. He does this because it is
just that, a counterfeit, like unto, but not the real thing. The real thing is so much better, so much
greater, it is: singular, identified, and available. It is “Christ
in you the hope of glory.”
