Romantic Love Is Not Enough, Part 2

The movie The Perfect Wave depicts Ian and Annabel falling in love with each other. Two good-looking people bump into each other on a stunning island, with a heart-melting soundtrack to go with it. They are swept off their feet by love. Romantic love is a gift from God, but we tend to overvalue it. Yesterday we saw that the love between the two was doomed to fail because they looked for salvation in each other. Today we consider that what they had wasn’t real love anyway.

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-13.

God is love. That’s why He wants us to follow the way of love. He wants us to have relationships that are based on real love not just being in love. Real love is patient, not jealous (v4) and not self-seeking (v5). We should reconsider how we go about dating.

Do we date people because of our loneliness and our need to look and feel better about ourselves, or because we want to give of ourselves for the good of the other? Do we evaluate prospective partners primarily on looks, or do we look mainly at their character and relationship with God? Are we ready for real love – the kind of love that will stick with one person for life? If we aren’t, then why are we dating?

There’s a difference between being in love and real love. Being in love is a wonderful feeling. The problem is that we confuse real love with being in love. Do you know the difference?

In love focuses on our own happiness. Real love focuses on the well-being of the other person. In love needs immediate satisfaction. Real love is patient and willing to sacrifice. In love wants pleasure and intensity. Real love seeks to grow in trust and friendship. In love is a feeling. Real love is an act of the will. In love is the icing on the cake. Real love is the cake. Anyone can be in love. But only a person who is emotionally, and usually spiritually, mature can really love.

Have you ever confused being in love with real love? When you look at those closest to you right now, how could God be challenging you to love them better?