The Most Important Part of Love

What is love without sincerity? Is it really love at all? Recently I have begun to look at 1 Corinthians 13 (the famous “love chapter” of the Bible) a little differently.

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

Love is important. It’s what challenges us to live fully and with abandon. It’s what wakes us up in the morning. It’s what we look forward to in finding our future spouses. It’s the center and heartbeat of every desire in the human heart—to love and to be loved. But have we forgotten the most important part of love?

God has blessed me with some incredible people in my life. I treasure and value my relationship with each one of them—like a rare encounter with God that leaves me speechless and awestruck. I have come to realize that each one of these people have something in common: their love is sincere. They don’t love me because they have to or because they feel obligated to. They don’t love and care for me because they want to feel good about themselves for doing so. They love me because Christ first loved them. They understand that love is a gift and never something to be wasted. They live and act out of love because love is who they are.

I have a friend that I met at church and his name is Agustin. This guy amazes me. I have heard stories from other people and have heard his testimony many times and it’s still hard for me to believe it. He used to be so angry and bitter, completely running away from God. And then God touched his heart and he’s never been the same. Everything that Agustin does is out of sincere love, because God transformed him from the inside out. When you have an encounter with God there’s no room for doubt because you are made NEW.

I also have another friend named Jenny. This girl is incredible. She is one of the craziest, on fire for Jesus, funny and loveable people I’ve ever met. The way she lives her life inspires me and fills me with joy. Jenny and I have been good friends for a while and I have always known why she is the way she is: because of Jesus. There’s no other explanation. Just Jesus. She knows Who she belongs to and walks in confidence. I love Jenny because she understands that you need to love people wherever they’re at. Jesus did that with us.

I could name off a lot of other people in my life just like Jenny and Agustin but you would never be able to stop reading this blog post 🙂

“Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.

I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.”

• Psalm 73:21-25

I read this passage in Psalm 73 yesterday and I could not agree more with it. When we’re lost in our own little worlds, trying to figure out who we are and what matters to us, we lose sight of Jesus. But even still, we belong to Him. Our mistakes are never greater than our identity. We are children of God. And once we realize that, we’re never the same. I think sincere love is the greatest gift anyone could ever receive. And I love that it comes from a simple encounter with the one true living God. Sincere love is not an act of responsibility or a duty. It’s a response to God’s goodness and grace.