© Wendy Anne Clark, 2023

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”  –1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT

The world around us has its own definition of love, an ever-changing definition of love. But God tells us what true love is like, and His definition stands firm through the ages, no matter how people change. 

C. S. Lewis understood that what is ultimately for a person’s good is more loving than the things we do to give into a feeling in the moment. God’s love for us is also connected to our ultimate good and not necessarily to the things we desire for ourselves.

In his letter to the Romans Paul writes that “all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (vs. 28). If we keep reading, we discover that the “good” that Paul is writing about is that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Transformation–the kind that will require us to die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to shape us. This shaping will no doubt require some hard things, some painful experiences, some suffering. It might not always feel like “love” to us. It might not always feel like it’s working for our “good.” We can resist if we want to, but how we respond today is shaping us into who we will be tomorrow.