God's Love

The world would have us believe that love has many meanings, or degrees, ranging from common love like "I love this movie" to the profound eternal love that is described in John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." These degrees of love are a construction of mankind and are not of God. There is one love and the rest are all substitutes. God gives us the ultimate example of eternal love in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." In return for this love, God does not ask for equal reconciliation. He will not require us to pay our debt in full and, with a stamp of completion, send us on our way alone. It can never be fully repaid. What, then does this say about eternal love? Godly love does not ask to be repaid. A beautiful description of Godly love is in Moroni 7:45, "And charity suffereth long, and it kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." This Godly love is unknown to the world. The media displays love as nearly the opposite of this charity. Verbal abuse is popular, along with jealousy and disloyalty. Charity also takes a backseat to pride, lust, and fame. It is believed and portrayed that love requires a certain amount of dishonesty, because they claim the truth would destroy a relationship. Perhaps the worst deception of all is that true love does not endure to the end. Divorce is more common, in media, than marriage. God called me specifically to be a lover of his children. When he said "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God (1 John 4:7)," love changed from the mock love that is Hollywood romance to something that will exist eternally after all the world and it's false ideals are forgotten.