I love the warmer temperatures quickly melted away all the ice that shut our town down for a few days.
I love that it’s basketball March Madness time!
I love that one of our cars is finally fixed because we’ve had to operate on one car for 2 weeks.
The words, “I love…” have become so common, almost ordinary. But love is anything but ordinary because it can be both simple and complex.
So, what does love mean? Love can be defined as a passionate affection for someone. Yes, for someone.
Passionate. I think that’s a pretty strong word. It sounds expressive, even striking. Maybe because it is.
When I think of the word passionate, I think it’s something, or someone, you strongly desire or an intense love for something that energizes you.
Except for the Linguistics class I took in college, I don’t normally look for the origin of words, even though I’ve always thought the history of words pretty fascinating. But I looked up the origin of the word ‘passion’. It’s a Latin word “passio” which means “Christ’s suffering on the cross.”
“Christ’s suffering on the cross” is the original definition of passion.
Christ’s suffering on the cross is passionate love. A passion like no other.
Over the past month, I’ve been studying the Bible with some other women as we’ve been dissecting the book of 1 John in the New Testament. There’s been many parts in this book that have been jumping out to me and I’m feeling the need to write it out so I don’t forget it. I think the Spirit has something to do with this especially because Holy Week and Jesus’ resurrection is drawing near.
The words God, love, live, know, Jesus, to name a few keep showing up in those few verses. Woven throughout all of those sentences is the thread of the passion God has for us.
And the beautiful thing I’m discovering is when we experience Jesus’ passionate love, it ignites the passions we have in ourselves.
Through the next month, I’m going to try unpacking what this passionate love is all about in 1 John 4:13-21 and you’re welcome to join me in this journey. I’m planning to post on Mondays so keep a look out.
Until then, marinate these words….
“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command:Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:13-21 (NIV)