How Worldly Love Compares To Biblical Love

Ho w Worldly Love Compares to Biblical Love

I Corinthians 13:4-7

The late Charles Schultz in his comic strip, “Peanuts” teaches a lot of common sense about life. Schultz has Lucy asking Charlie Brown a question: “You know what I don’t understand?” Then she answers her own question, “I don’t understand love!”

Charlie Brown replies, “Who does!” Lucy says, “Explain love to me, Charlie Brown.” Charlie says, “You can’t explain love. I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can’t explain love.”

Lucy comes back, “Well, try, Charlie Brown, try.”

Charlie ponders in deep thought for a moment and then says, “Well, let’s say I see this beautiful, cute, little girl walk by.” Lucy quickly interrupts, “Why does she have to be cute? Huh? Why can’t someone fall in love with someone with freckles and a big nose? Explain that!”

Charlie changes his story and says, “Well, maybe you are right. Let’s say I see this girl walk by with this big nose…” But Lucy interrupts again, “I didn’t say great big nose.”

By this time Charlie Brown gives that “woe is me sigh” and says, “You not only can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”

One of the best descriptions of love is found in the Bible in I Corinthians 13. Let’s read together verses 4-7:

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

There are many things that Biblical loves pushes a person not to do. Biblical love sets boundaries. The boundaries are for our own good. Biblical love does not say “yes” to sex before marriage. Biblical love motivates young adults who are dating to say “No” to immoral conduct.

Persons practicing Biblical love understand the physical differences between men and women and take safe guards to live a pure Christ honoring life.

Guys are sexually motivated by sight and girls more by relationships. By the way you dress or the way you touch a person you can cause that person to commit the sin of lust. The Bible makes it clear that is a sin to cause sexual arousal that cannot be righteously satisfied. Sex outside of marriage in any form is not blessed of God. For immodest dress at our Christian School we keep Willow Vale T Shirts on hand to give to the ones who need a modest shirt.

The Biblical boundaries of love are safeguards to marriage. Being faithful to your spouse in marriage builds life-long trust. Saying “no” to sex before marriage also builds trust in the marriage relationship.

It’s helpful to look at love from the standpoint of how the world views love and compare worldly love to Biblical love.

Worldly Love is Conditional Love

Love promoted by this world’s standard is conditional love. Relationships of love lived outside the Christian Faith have many “ifs.” Love is conditioned by the attitude, “If you meet my needs then I’ll meet yours. In the view of many people today God has been humanized. God’s love has been perverted. Many view God as a giant Bayer aspirin. Take god three times a day and everything will work out alright. God’s love has been refashioned into man’s own image and likeness.

Conditional love is selfish love. Selfish love is the attitude that God made man to indulge in lust. Selfish love will tell you to pull your own strings, manipulate others through intimidation, do anything to get your own way.

In marriage, conditional love often plays the game of one-upmanship. I’m one good deed up on you so you owe me. “I carried out the trash, you must do the dishes. I worked ten hours today, you must tuck the kids into bed. I was the last one to say, “I love you,” Now it’s your turn.”

Conditional love is mechanical and cold and does not last.

Conditional selfish love says, “It’s my way or you take the highway.” Selfish love quickly turns to anger and often ends in violence. Selfish love practices the opposite of what Jesus taught that we are to love our neighbors.

One of the front page headlines in last Sunday’s Mercury News read: “Neighbors’ Feud Turns Tragic.” A geophysicist lived next door to a criminal defense attorney and his wife in upscale Carmel Valley.

The geophysicist had planted a huge rock in the fork of the two driveways to the houses. The rock made it difficult for the attorney to drive his sunshine VW Bus to his carport.