We love Christmas! It’s our (and especially Mark’s) favorite time of year. Besides the decorations, presents, cheer, and time with family, Christmas marks a very special event. It’s when God sent His son to earth, which was the greatest expression of His love for us.
In our own personal story of redeeming our marriage together, one of the biggest lessons we learned was what love really looks like. It’s not that we were unloving in the 1.0 version of us; it’s just that we didn’t understand how to love each other and receive love well.
All of us can benefit from maturing our understanding of love. Instead of falling into the trap of giving and receiving love that’s transactional, we need to practice the kind of love that Jesus showed us.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- The characteristics of real love
- How Jesus displayed love for us
- Ways we can express sacrificial love for one another
- And more!
We hope this conversation helps you understand the true love that Jesus exemplified when He laid down His life for us!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- [BOOK] Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy
- Understanding the Lies that Hold You Back with Gary Thomas | Episode 276
- How to Love Someone Who’s Hard to Love | Episode 20
- Love Like You Mean It with Bob Lepine | Episode 49
- As a thank you for listening, get your 3 free eBooks
My Key Takeaways:
1) Our love needs to grow up. Whether it’s in marriage, dating, friendships, or our family relationships, it’s rare that we have a complete and healthy idea of what real love looks like. For many couples, marriage is the mirror that reflects either our maturity or our immaturity. Regardless of where you are in life, we can all take time to reflect on our current understanding of love and compare it to the example Jesus gave us.
2) Real love is selfless rather than transactional. This is just one of the many characteristics of real love that we shared in this conversation, but it’s an important one! Often in relationships, what we give is dependent on what we’ve first received. It’s easy to respond in love when we feel loved in return. However, a love like Jesus loves even when we aren’t receiving anything in exchange. Take some time to ponder if you are practicing a selfless, sacrificial love or a more transactional love.
3) Assess your “Love Report Card.” We like to use 1 Corinthians 13, the “love” chapter, as an assessment for how well our love is measuring up. Here’s how it works: Open up your Bible to 1 Corinthians 12 and put your name in the place of “love” in the text. Ask yourself if this is a true statement. To go one step further, add another person’s name on the receiving side. For example, rather than “Love is patient,” it will read “Jill is patient with Mark.”
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