Love is relational, not relative. It ought not depend on circumstances or the right “stars aligning.” No! Love is the highest divine emotion that can be expressed in life, not that which is just given to lip service. What I’m about to say next may be difficult, but I’m speaking to myself from past “love” exchanges. Love that is not channeled from the source of pure love is in fact perverted love. We may think we are loving accurately, but if we begin at the wrong location, every point after that will be off positionally and diverted expressively. Displaced love.  

You see, I thought I knew “love” before, but my spiritual maturity level did not match true love standards. Thus, instead of looking up to receive it—which is meeting love in its source—I remained at the point of relativity.  I knew not love though I said, “I love you!”

Yes, First Corinthians 13:4 begins to tell us the characteristics of love, but the definition of a word is far from the demonstration of a word. For example, our failure to relate with love to our neighbors (everyone is our neighbor) is indicative of our failure to relate to God first. Love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself.  The first direction of love dictates the second.  Up to God first, before you can look left and right to man (yep, that makes a cross).

God’s love is overflowing through the sacrifice of His Son, so when you meet the pure love of God at its intended purpose—to cleanse us and free us—you can than mete out the pure love of God which is His heavenly purpose for us on earth.

I failed relationally with man and woman alike in the past because I didn’t allow the eyes of my soul to meet the gaze of God. I did not meet love at its source—Jesus Christ—so I lived well below its standards. I accepted the age-old adage that “love is blind,” which only keeps you blind. I lived at the level of earthly love and lost sight of life because of it.  

Biblical love is not blind. In fact, it sees more.  And because it sees more, it CHOOSES to see less. Now let’s get back to the demonstration of love and how it was Jesus who saw all of our faults, failures, and flaws, yet He loved us all the more.  He saw it ALL and He still gave us His all when He gave us Himself.  

Finally, revisiting First Corinthians 13:4-8, I encourage you to replace the word “love” with “Jesus” in those verses and begin to meet love at its standard:

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, love is not puffed up;  love does not behave rudely, love does not seek its own, love is not provoked, love thinks no evil; love does not rejoice in iniquity, but love rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things. 

JESUS never fails."