What Is Love?
We all crave love.
Some long to be loved. Others deeply want to love someone. Yet, without God, love can become selfish and foolish, leading to a lot of pain.
It hurts more than it heals.
Parents grieve over their children. Children feel misunderstood by their parents. Lovers who once clung to each other with fire in their hearts walk away, broken.
And someone once said, “The ones who love me hurt me the most.”
So what is perfect love, really?
Where is it?
How do we receive it?
How do we live it out?
And why do even some Christians feel like they’ve never fully experienced it?
- God is love.
Love calls light into darkness. Love created the heavens and the earth, and everything in them. Love gave humanity life (Genesis 1:1-31). We are born of love, which means we all need love, and we all need God.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” — Matthew 4:4
Without love, life loses meaning.
Without God, our hearts eventually fall into a restless emptiness that nothing can satisfy.
- Love is everywhere. So why do we often feel like it’s nowhere?
God is everywhere. So is His love.
But He doesn’t force it on us.
From the very beginning, He gave us something powerful: free will.
We can choose to listen to His voice… or follow our own. (Genesis 2:16)
And if we decide to love only in our own way, by our own terms, He won’t force Himself into our lives.
Love doesn’t control.
God respects our choice—even when it leads us away from Him.
You don’t have to repeat Adam and Eve’s story.
You can choose differently. Today.
- Perfect love begins when you receive Jesus.
“No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” — Matthew 11:27 NLT
To know God and God’s love, we can only do so through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus didn’t just talk about love—He became it.
He died for you. He took your sin. And when you receive Him, you don’t just get forgiveness…
You get family.
God becomes your Father. And He loves you just as He loves Jesus.
He will personally show you what real love looks like—slowly, gently, faithfully.
Perfect love will begin to shape your heart from the inside out.
- We love… because He loved us first. (1 John 4:19)
God’s love doesn’t begin with us—it begins with Him.
He loved us long before we ever knew about Him.
And through that love, we learn to love.
In the Old Testament, people didn’t understand who God really was. He felt distant, harsh, maybe even angry.
But then came Jesus. Out of love, He willingly offered His life for us, enduring God’s judgment on the cross, experiencing unimaginable pain and fear.
God never gave up on us, nor did He stop loving us. He continually loves us with genuine, selfless, and supreme love.
Finally, He places us in Jesus, making us one with God in spirit, ensuring we can live in God’s love forever. This allows us to bear the perfect fruit in God’s love, and to love your family, friends, and yourself with the most sincere and selfless love.
- But what if I don’t feel worthy of that kind of love?
Many believers struggle here.
They know the story of Jesus… but still secretly think, “God could never love me like He loves Jesus.”
They simply don’t understand the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross. Take a moment to truly read Jesus’ prayer:
“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” — John 17:23
“I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” — John 17:26 NLT
This is the gospel:
When we were at our worst—our most selfish, broken, and lost—God gave His best.
He gave Jesus.
He didn’t do it out of obligation.
He did it because He wanted you back.
He wanted you to have a choice again.
So… what will you choose?
The tree of knowledge, or the tree of life?
Your own way—or His?
Your truth—or the Truth?
Will you keep trying to love from your own strength…
or will you let Perfect Love make its home in you?
很多人渴望得到爱，很多人也希望爱别人。可是如果没有神，爱就会变得很自私，爱的方式就变得愚蠢，这种爱会带来很多伤害。很多父母为儿女伤心，很多儿女为父母烦恼，很多男女深爱对方，却无法终成眷属，于是就有人唱《爱我的人伤我最深》。
1.那什么是完美的爱？2.爱在哪里？3.怎么才能得到这份爱？4.如何爱？5.为什么有些基督徒没有经历完美的爱？
答案就是：
1.神是爱。
爱呼唤光照亮黑暗。爱创造了天地万物。 爱给人类生命。（创世纪 1：1-31）我们因爱而生，所以我们都需要爱，我们都需要神。
马太福音 4:4 耶稣回答说：“经上记着：‘人活着不是单靠食物，而是靠神口里所出的每一句话。’ ”
没有爱，我们就没有生存的意义。没有神，我们就会陷入无尽的空虚。
2.爱无所不在。
神是无所不在的。爱也无所不在。为什么很多人看不到，感受不到呢？因为神给了人自由意志，就是说人可以自己决定听从上帝的话，还是听从自己的。（【创世纪 2：16 耶和华神吩咐那人说：“园子中各样树上的果实，你都可以随意吃；】“随意”的意思是“随着自己的意思；任意；不加限制”。）。 人若不想听上帝的话，只相信自己，只想按自己的方式去爱，上帝不会把他的爱强加给我们。因为上帝尊重我们的自由意志。如果你不想再伤害你爱的人，想好好爱他们，好好爱自己，请做一个跟亚当和夏娃不同的选择。
3.接受耶稣，成为神的孩子，你就拥有完美的爱。
马太福音 11:27 (CSBS)我父把一切都交给了我。除了父，没有人认识子；除了子和子所愿意启示的人，也没有人认识父。
我们要认识神和神的爱，就只有通过耶稣基督的启示。接受耶稣为我们死在十字架上，赦免了我们一切的罪。这样你就成为了上帝的孩子，你的天父会像爱耶稣一样爱你，亲自教你什么是爱，如何爱，让完美的爱伴随你一生。
4.（约翰一书 4:19 (CSBS)我们爱 ，是因为他先爱了我们。）
神先爱我们。他用对我们的爱，教会我们认识爱，学习爱，也经历最完美的爱。旧约圣经，说的是人不认识神，也不知道神是爱，反而觉得神不爱人，远离神。新约圣经，耶稣生而为人，用他的一生告诉我们，做为一个人怎么认识神，与神相连。因为爱，他甘心乐意的为我们献上他的生命，在十字架上经历神的审判，承受无法想象的痛苦与恐惧。神一直没有放弃我们，更没有放弃爱我们。他一直用真诚无私，至高无上的爱来爱我们。最后把我们放在耶稣里，跟神同一体，同一灵，来保障我们永远都能活在神的爱中。这样我们就能在神的爱中结出最完美的果子，用最真诚，最无私的爱去爱你的家人，爱你的朋友，爱自己。
5.如果一个基督徒觉得自己不够好，觉得神不可能像爱耶稣一样爱我们，那这个人不明白耶稣死在十字架上的意义。好好读一下耶稣的祷告：
约翰福音 17：23 我在他们里面，你在我里面，愿他们能完全合一，好让世界知道是你差派了我，也知道你爱他们，就像爱我那样。
26 我将你的名（Abba，Father）向他们显明了，并且还要显明。这样，你爱我的爱就能在他们里面，我也能在他们里面。”
神在我们最邪恶，最自私的时候，把他最爱的唯一的儿子赐给了我们，做了我们的赎罪祭。为了能让我们回到当初的伊甸园，为了给你一个自己选择的机会，不用再抱怨亚当和夏娃，你可以决定自己的命运。你选择吃善恶树的果子，还是选择吃生命树的果子？选择信自己，还是选择信耶稣？
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