Let’s Talk About L0V3 (Part 1/4)

Valentines Day and Single-Awareness Day was a month ago now, so I'm sure you can make an accurate guess of what the topic I'll be talking about! One of my favorite topics to talk about, what I looked forward to in every sleepover, but not by any means at all an expert on - loooove.
This blog post will be more loose - and just an fyi, these are my personal views of what I believe love is and what God is teaching me about it. This will be a 4-part blog post since Pastor Paul’s, our lead pastor at GSBC, sermon about relationships was also 4 parts. *insert silly face*
What is love to you? I'd love to hear you answer this question, so please feel free to respond/ text/ call/ comment etc.!

To me, love is like handing a person your heart, knowing full well that this person can either crush your heart or care for it. Love is putting trust in that person, investing your time, emotion, and money in that person.. even when you're unsure that they will receive it or.. stay. That to me is unconditional love. Jesus has shown us unconditional love so clearly by giving Himself as a sacrifice to God's wrath so that we may live joyfully in eternity with Him if we believe in Him. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That verse to me is so powerful because while I rejected God the moment I was born and still struggle to be obedient to Him, Jesus loved me and saw me worthy as to die-for.

So let's dive further into what God says love is. I'm getting so #kiliged! (“Kilig” is the Tagalog word for “excitement when talking about romantic/ corny things). So, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells you what love is. "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
I love this passage because you can see the distinction between God's standards of what love is and what the world sets as the standards of love. Ask yourself, are you ready to love someone like this? I am soo, so grateful to my best friend over the years because I've experienced it myself with him. He's so patient with me, kind, doesn't rejoice in the wrongs (and will often correct me when I am wrong). So I ask myself sometimes, "Erika, are you ready to be patient with your future boyfriend? Are you ready to not keep records of his offenses to you? Can you make sacrifices?"
I know I'll be ready to love this person when I can answer these questions.

This doesn't just apply to romantic relationships. I can honestly say I only love this way to my family and very close friends. To be very honest, I struggle with loving strangers and even just regular friends I hangout with routinely. Unconditional love is constantly displayed through your decisions - to continue acting a certain way despite how you feel, despite not reciprocating the same efforts you placed and being ok with that.