The Truth About True Love
Cinderella found her perfect fit when she lost her glass slipper. Snow White was saved from eternal slumber by true love’s kiss.
Seeds of ideas about true love begin to take root in our earliest years, based on what we take in from the world. Fairy tales, romantic movies, love songs and romance novels seep into our senses, influencing our expectation of what happily-ever-after will be like when our “one true love” comes along.
The truth is, the world’s portrayal of true love is an illusion.
Don’t get me wrong. I love fairy tales, love songs and romance. I could own stock in the Hallmark Channel! And I’m blessed to be married to a wonderful husband who is the Valentine of my life.
But sooner or later, the sun comes up after the honeymoon. Glass slippers are swapped for house slippers -- they’re way more comfortable. Breakfast in bed is a rare treat, but true love will still pause to at least bring your sweetheart a cup of coffee, fixed just the way they like it.
Marriage is imperfect people doing imperfect life together. Paying life’s bills. Doing life’s laundry. Washing life’s dishes. Getting things done we don’t love doing, but doing them anyway because they’re necessary.
And when we become parents, true love is changing diapers and wiping runny noses, homework helping and sideline cheering our babies as they’re growing up.
The truth is, true love is messy and mostly unromantic. If we’re not grounded in what the truth about true love is, we may find ourselves longing for unrealistic expectations painted by fairytales that will ultimately leave us disillusioned.
I found these words in search of the definition of TRUE:
accurate, correct, verifiable, faithful, literal, veracious
That’s a lot of ground covered in those six words! They don’t bring Cinderella or Snow White’s love stories to mind for me. And while I have a lot of wonderful things I can say about my husband and our marriage, several on that list don’t always fit our relationship, either. Our feelings aren’t always accurate, and how we handle conflict isn’t always the correct way. And verifiable? Well, it’s human nature to want love REverified over time. No matter how solid the relationship, most everyone will question in one way or another, “Do you still love me like you used to?” We just want to be sure – it’s why books like The Five Love Languages exist — so we can be aware of when and why our love tanks seem to be running low, and how to refill them. (My love language is words of affirmation, by the way).
As I pondered those six words that define the word TRUE, I realized there is someone all six of those words describe: GOD. God is TRUE, and God is also LOVE (1 John 4:8). Put them together, and you have TRUE LOVE. He is what TRUE LOVE really is and He is who TRUE LOVE really is.
When we are walking with God daily in our life, we bring His attributes into the messy and unromantic reality of living out earthly love. When we make a priority of cultivating relationship with Him, the seeds of what true love really is begin to take root in our heart.
What HE says “love is” starts to blossom and grow, outward from our heart into our relationships with others:
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7
From God, the One who is TRUE LOVE, we have the best romance novel EVER WRITTEN. And it’s not fiction!
God’s Word is accurate, correct, and verifiable. Here’s just one quick summary about the Bible from Biblica.com (see more reSOURCES at bottom):
“..the evidence is utterly astonishing. No other volume in the world has even a small percentage of ancient manuscripts, parchments, papyri, and other documents which antedate the printing press. They number over five thousand! In the terrible days of persecution by the Roman emperors, many of the precious copies of the Scriptures were destroyed by imperial edict. Yet several were kept in secret and so God’s Word was preserved throughout the centuries. It is also remarkable that the thousands of underlying documents agree to such a surprising extent. We may be sure that even today we have the authentic Bible.”
God is faithful.
God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:9)
God is literal.
Yes, He really did speak the universe into existence, just as the Bible tells us! Jesus Himself demonstrated the literal power of God’s Word when He quoted scripture to satan in Luke 4, in response to satan tempting Him (see Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13 and 6:16). His doing so literally silenced the enemy.
I’m thankful that in my faith journey, I’ve learned the truth about true love.
True love HAS a source, and IS a source. The SOURCE!
The SOURCE who is not fleeting like butterflies in the tummy in the early days of a dating relationship.
The SOURCE who is not fading like the fireworks of love’s first glow.
God, Himself, is our One True Love, and His love endures all things (1 Corinthians 7b).
His love for us is so veracious, He made a way for us to have eternal life with Him by sending His one and only Son to pay the pay the penalty for our sin (John 3:16) and bring us back to Himself.
That’s The Truth about True Love!
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
1 John 4:16 (NLT)
reSOURCES:
Josh McDowell wrote one of the most authoritative defenses of the Bible with Evidence That Demands a Verdict. I also love his book 77 FAQs About God and the Bible.