What Really Matters When It Comes to Love

“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.” Philippians 1:9-10 NLT

The world acknowledges every time there is a catastrophic event ‘love’ is missing, that it had been here from the beginning and now it is gone. But has it always been here? The Bible says God is love and for sure He is. There is a misunderstanding of the love of God among the people of the world which justifies sinful behavior. The love of God simply stated in scripture is, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn.3:16 nlt)

Godly love has not been in the world, outside of those who know God, since the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The world is incapable of this love if it does not know the true God of the Bible. John writes, “…. for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.” (1Jn.4:7b nlt) Obviously those who do not know God do not possess the love needed the help the world in crisis. But Christians do! “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1Jn.4:9-10 nlt)

It is vital for every Christian to know what really matters after we have accepted Christ as savior. Paul encourages us to ‘keep on growing in knowledge and understanding’ and that our love would overflow. It is not sentimental love, but love rooted in the knowledge of God. Understanding what really matters will help us to ‘live pure and blameless lives.’ Paul writes, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” (Ph.1:11 nlt) Then we are capable to share the gospel, the love of God, with the world who so desperately needs it. That’s ‘what really matters when it comes to love.’