Duration of Love

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end (Joh 13:1).

It could really be disturbing to see how many fall in love and fall out of love. We seem not to understand the duration of love. We sometimes take love to mean a feeling that comes and goes and our loving someone therefore depends on this fluctuating feeling. This is not the nature of love. Love is constant. It does not depend on feelings or emotions. It is superior to events and behaviour, beauty, fame, money, strengths and weaknesses, achievements and failures. Love is the only constant on earth. Therefore falling in and out of love only reveals our ignorance of the very nature and durability of love.

The only way to understand love is to find out from the Owner and Giver of love. God is love and no one can understand love outside of God. Checking back on the Scriptural passage above, we see Jesus loving His own and how long His love lasted. Who were these His own? They were His disciples, His followers. They were a group with many varied characters. One would betray Him, others would deny Him and yet others would not believe His message yet He loved them not for a time but to the end. There was no terminating of His love for them in spite of their weaknesses. His love was not conditional.

Everyone has his or her own. It could be your spouse, Child(ren), colleagues, friends and others. Do we love them to the end? Is not our love conditional? Why do we have increasing rate of separations and divorce? Is it not because we love to the middle or with conditions? God wants us to love to the end. It is better not to love than to love halfway. Don't start what you wouldn't finish. If you have your 'own' choose to love them to the end. Make up your mind and trust God to love unconditionally. That is the only acceptable love.