I want a love like...

There are lots of things I love.

Warm patches of sunshine

Coffee and conversation

Journaling

Murray State Basketball

Cooking

Blue ink pens

Africa

Finding shapes in the clouds

Baseball

The Olympics

Lists

Little black babies

… and adventures, just to name a few.

But what is real love?

The culture I’m surrounded by tells me love is when a guy finds you attractive enough to get in bed with you or if he makes a girl’s heart flutter and her stomach swirl with anticipation and longing then that must be love.

The movies tell us love is when a guy rescues the damsel in distress or pushes through her stubbornness to rescue her from herself and the fear she is holding on to. Take this quote for instance, “All a girl needs is one guy to prove to her they’re not all the same.”

There are other movies that tell you a guy loves you if he won’t suck your blood even if he is desperately drawn to it.

Wow.

Then there are the sappy songs (that I catch myself humming along with) talking about someone taking your breath away, making you feel like you were living a teenage dream and making you want to say OMG.

There is also the sweet song about wanting a love like Johnny and June, but that’s not the kind of love I want.

I want a love like Christ and the church.

After Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden they were separated from God and, as a consequence, so was every man and woman after them. (That means us.) But God, in His brilliant planning, sent His perfect Son to absorb His wrath so we could have freedom from the chains of sin, insecurity and fear.

His love sent Him to the cross. His love, when we repent and believe in Him and His atoning blood, cancels our sin. His love redeems us from Adam’s fall and our sin-filled nature. His love gives us a friendship with the Creator of the Universe. His love makes dead people live. His love lights up the sky and lights up our hearts.

His love is my motivation for life.

“And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.” –Colossians 1:21-22

It’s not some cheap love that can be thrown away or something that fades when the infatuation and emotions die down, it’s a genuine, living, breathing, eternal love. It's beautiful, relentless and furious, stretching to the highest mountain and reaching into the furthest depths of the sea. It's a love that will never let you down.