True Love

True love is so much more than giddy emotion or feeling enamored with someone else because they happen to agree with us or we are temporarily or perhaps permanently on the same page as someone else. It is full of hard things like sacrifice, endurance, perseverance and zero expectations. Wow, that's pretty different than the happily ever after story of love I was exposed to as a young child, or the conditional love I have felt from so many for so much of my life. It is time, as followers of Christ that we move to that space where we love in the way of Jesus. And that is hard.

The following is written and excerpted from Jon Walker's devotional at gracecreates.com.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 John 3:14 (NIV)

Our love for one another is the fruit, not the root, of our relationship with God.

We are transformed from people who are selective in whom and how we love into people energized by God’s Spirit to love one another abundantly and unconditionally.

It takes faith to love another with God-love flowing into us.

Love starts with God. God loved you first, and your ability to love others comes from your connection with God. God loved you; now, you love others, and that allows others to see God in you (1 John 4:11–12).