Where is Love?

One of my friendly neighborhood commenters and I were having a discussion over at this post on Monergism. She asked, "So, if this is true, no young mother in her 'natural' and unregenerate state can ever lovingly care for her sweet little baby with unselfish love?" I tried to draw a distinction in types of love. I suggested that often this particular type of love "is predicated on self-fulfillment, how good it makes her feel, the hope for returned love, even familial affection." She responded, "Unfortunately I guess you're correct when you say that a mother loving her sweet little baby is probably based on how good her baby makes her feel. If that baby were to turn green with red eyes, begin growling, scratching, and spitting in her face, I would imagine those feelings of unselfish love would become hard to hold onto for very long."

Now, this post is not about our friendly dialog. That discussion was simply the catalyst for this thought: What is love? The truth is that love comes in different varieties. We all know that. We can love our pet, love our food, and love our spouse, all with different gradations. We know that there is self-serving love and selfless love. There is romance and passion and there is that long-term, hard-core, mental commitment to another's well-being. There are all sorts of "loves". This isn't anything revolutionary.

What is it, then, that signifies that ultimate version? What shows us the highest form of love? This, too, isn't revolutionary. We all know this. It's just that we haven't thought about it. Everyone knows someone (singular or plural) that promised "'til death do us part" and ended up with "'til discomfort do us part." We all know people who, when the going got tough, they got going. We all understand that when a spouse gets sick or turns mean or fails to return love, it's hard to continue to love that person. So whose love is it that we genuinely admire? What is the ultimate love? We all recognize that pinnacle of love when we see someone do it ... in the terms that my commenter described. That mother who would love her little baby "if that baby were to turn green with red eyes, begin growling, scratching, and spitting in her face." That husband who stands by his wife as she goes through disabling disease or personality-altering conditions like alzheimer's disease. Loving when things are pleasant and rewarding is fine, but we all recognize true love when it is practiced through the hardest of times with no observable reward for the giver of that love. That is supreme love.

That (and here is where I'm really going with this post) brings me to this amazing passage:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person -- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die -- but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:6-8).

We are often challenged to answer, "Why does God allow evil in the world?" We can do fancy steps and we can try to explain it away, but the only plausible, rational, biblical answer is "God intended for evil to exist." And why would He do that? It is because without evil, we cannot know good. Without contrasts, we cannot know both sides. The Bible has lots of references to God demonstrating various aspects of His nature that, without evil, could not be seen at all. You can't know justice without evil. You can't know wrath and power without the need for them. You can't know amazing things like grace and mercy without evil. Because of evil, we have a demonstration of God's righteousness (Rom 3:25), His power (Rom 9:17), His wrath (Rom 9:22), His mercy (Rom 9:23), His patience (1 Tim 1:16), and on it goes. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, takes no joy in pain, suffering, or sin, but He valued the display of His character over the removal of evil.

So here in Romans 5, we see something quite astounding. We know that genuine love is truly demonstrated when it is most difficult. Romans 5 says that God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were in full rebellion, Christ died for us. We were at war with Him and He sent the remedy. We were engaged in hostilities and He arranged the fix. We were committing Cosmic Treason against Him and He set up the means of forgiveness. Now that, dear readers, is love. That's no downstream, self-serving, fickle love. That's the ultimate love. That is a prize of great value.