What is Love and Where do I Find It?

We all know February as the month centered around love. We have Valentine’s day, see couples everywhere we go, and it feels like you’re looking at life through red sunglasses. This month is one that can bring different emotions depending on what season of life you’re in. If you’re dating someone you could be so excited for the 14th day of February because you get to feel special. Maybe you are dating someone and not excited because you feel expectation is over hyped. Maybe you are single and Valentine’s day is just a day you are trying to survive. Because of all the emotions this month can bring I wanted to create content themed around this month that left us feeling known, seen, and most importantly loved. 

This week we are asking and answering 2 questions, what is love? and where does it come from? So many times we want this thing called love but what is it that we are really wanting, attention? Physical touch? A gift? The moment we get, the moment we truly feel loved, do we even know where that true love came from? Do we know what made us feel loved? Keep reading below to know deeper about what love is and the place real love comes from. 

 What is love?

The thing we are always wanting, dreaming about, or anticipating, what is it that we want so bad it’s making us dissatisfied now? I hate to say it but I am the girl who has always dreamed of the day I would get married and be a wife. I know one day those things will come but I can find myself frustrated missing what’s in front of me because I’m wanting what’s coming so bad. As girls we live to be loved. Ask yourself, what is love to you? How do you feel loved? How do you show love? 

The second part of 1 John 4 is all about “God’s love and ours.” In this chapter we learn that God is love (verse 16). So many times we start looking for love when we don’t quite know what we’re looking for. When we look for love we are really looking for God. When you are craving attention from a boy, you are craving the attention of God. When you are hungry for the affirmation of a friend or parent, you are hungry for the affirmation of God. When you are scrolling on instagram comparing yourself to other girls, the true desire is to know that you are loved by your creator. Yes those things feel good but what you’re experiencing in those moments are feelings that fleshly things don’t give but the spiritual emotions God created. The world wants to tell us that those things equal the feelings of being loved but God’s word is clear that He is love. 

Where do we find love? 

If God is love, where do we find him and where do we find love? One thing I have learned is that when we don’t know where to look for something,we start looking in all the wrong places. For example, I am the worst about losing lip gloss/color. I am very specific about the lip color that I use and not  just any color works lol. When I am looking for my lip color, it seems that I look so hard for it, oftentimes I end up looking everywhere but the place it’s in. We can also do that with love. I remember the days when I was looking in the wrong places and even the moments I catch myself doing it still. It’s a process of remembering where love comes from. It takes time to build the consistency of doing it.  And it is not a suggestion but a command to remember that we only find satisfying love in God. 

Where do we find God and his love? We find it in his word. I love Psalm 103:8 because it shares that “God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love.” If God is love then it also means that “Love is compassionate, gracious, and slow to anger.” When we are looking for love we can identify it by those things. If the place you are looking for love in doesn’t leave you feeling welcomed by the face of grace, having experienced unconditional mercy, a full heart of joy, and refreshed in freedom then it wasn’t love. 

If you are wondering what love is, love is God and if you are looking for the hidden spot to find it, it’s been waiting for you in his word. If you find yourself still searching in the wrong places, give yourself grace and remind your heart of truth. 

If you don’t know how to practically look for love then join us the rest of the month as we continue to read his word together. Use these blogs as a guide to know God deeper and experience the fullness of life!

XX Scarlet