Society’s warped idea of love has been heavy on my heart lately and I wanted to share a few thoughts on the topic.
My small group and I recently memorized 1 Corinthians 13 and though I knew the verses quite well, God used the memorization of said verses to ingrain in my heart a new understanding—a true understanding— of love.

The other day, my co-worker who is going through a divorce was talking and it felt as though his every word was a stab into my heart. I mourned how distant his idea of love was from the way that God had meant it to be. How we have allowed it to become so warped. As I listened to him speak, I could not help, but notice how his every word seemed to contradict these verses:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardships that I might boast but do not have love I gain nothing

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies they will cease, where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge it will pass away. For I know in part and I prophecy in part, but when completeness comes all that is in part will pass away. When I was a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part, then we shall be fully known. And now these three remain; faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love.

It  also broke my heart because I see evidence of this false love littering every facet of my society. Infecting the hearts of people I genuinely care about and most of all invading my own heart. I now have these words securely bound around my heart and I can feel them seeping in. As a woman, keeping my heart guarded is one of my toughest tasks, but these verses show me how it is done. I compare my own interactions and the interactions of those around me to these verses, and God has used them to impact my every thought and action. The world becomes more beautiful as love becomes more clearly defined and that excites me because this is only a shadow of what is to come!

I cannot wait until the day that I am fully known and can see the full impact of God's love in Heaven.