Upside Down Love
The concept of love is a prevalent and often discussed topic in today’s society. It is commonly viewed from a self-centric perspective, focusing on what love can do for the individual rather than the transformative power it can have when working through us for the benefit of others.
Expectations of expressions of love are often applied out of context and can become more of a selfish ideology that has nothing to do with love, even though it claims to be about love.
Even when we try our best to look at love as it is defined by Scripture itself, we can struggle to understand how it applies to the diverse situations we experience in daily life.
We can read about how love is patient and struggle to understand what love’s patience looks and acts like in every situation. When we review what the Scripture says about love, the starting point made apparent is that people can do good for others without a motivation for love. In other words, good can be practiced, and what may appear to be unselfish may, in fact, be very selfish because it is motivated by something other than love.
1Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
It is clear that good things can be practiced without love as their core motivation. So, how can we know love is truly at work?
Scripture tells us this about love.
1Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
The attribute of love described in these passages demands that we understand and apply its definition and context correctly.
Who’s the idea of what kind looks like will be the rule of thumb in this description of what love is?
Too often, in an honest and sincere effort to promote the call to love, the idea of who is responsible for it and how it is to be measured gets misapplied due to being misunderstood or received in a self-centered notion of it. That is when love is turned upside down. When I hear about love, and my first thought is about how others should treat me, did I correctly understand the truth being communicated?
Another thought is figuring out how all the other attributes of love coincide with and cooperate with the controversial attribute about how love doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. There’s a lot to love that is misunderstood. This is where failing to take into consideration the whole counsel of the New Testament Scripture when seeking to understand what love is and what it looks like can lead a person to an upside-down view of it. We need to pursue love, especially the motivation of it flowing from the heart. There can be no debate about that. However, let’s not neglect to realize that we can also benefit from a fuller understanding of its multifaceted manifestation.
