I enjoy a good romantic comedy, but they’re pretty predictable. Boy and girl meet. Something stands in the way of their being together but because they love one another, they overcome all obstacles to be together. Swell music. Seal with a kiss. Cue the credits. The formula works – according to statista.com, 2021 was a low-earnings year for romantic comedies and they still managed to gross about $1.36 million in the North American market. That dramatic moment feels good. But that’s just the beginning of the real story. While all love may start with affection, real love keeps going. It keeps growing.
There’s something wrong if the tender shoots of warm feelings in another’s company never grow deep roots. Love without roots will soon wither. But love with roots endures. Paul describes it this way – “Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6 AMP).
Paul’s not talking about warm feelings. He’s talking about the very practical nature of love that puts up with much and overlooks wrongs and hangs on to the very end. It’s love in the context of a broken world under the curse of sin. That kind of love doesn’t happen overnight. It requires maturity.
What’s the mark of maturity? Being able to discern and act on what’s best regardless of personal sentiment, convenience, or preference. Love that’s based on how you feel is childish. Even a toddler can love people they like. What God wants is for His love in us to expand to such fullness that it bursts through the barriers that sin has erected and overflows to everyone, everywhere, even our enemies. That’s the kind of love that the Father has for us (Matthew 5:43-48). That’s the kind of love Jesus demonstrated for us on the cross.
In spite of immense personal agony, Jesus didn’t ask for His pain to be lessened or His suffering to be diminished. He didn’t pray for His enemies to be punished or for the rightness of His position to be defended. He looked out from the cross full of compassion and asked God to forgive us. That is real love. That is how we are loved. That is how we are to love one another.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God - for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. 1 John 4:7-10