On March 19, 2020, I was doing my daily devotional using this 21 Day Bible Reading Plan that I discovered on Pinterest. This reading plan took a verse each day to help you discover Who God says You are. My devotional verse for the day was John 3:16 because God says we are loved. Since I have a study bible I like to look at the footnotes as well as the related verses for the verses I read. On this particular night I felt the urge to look in the back at my concordance and see how many other verse were listed under the topic of Love. This also led me to Google how many times the word "Love" is mentioned in the Bible. Then spent over an hour diving into the topic of "Love". I decided to share what I discovered.
Did you know that the word "LOVE" is mentioned 310 time in the Bible? In the Old Testament it is mentioned 131 times and in the New Testament it is mentioned 179 times. In a little note inside my Study Bible, the primary definition of love is both an attribute of God and essential part of his nature.
Did you also know that more songs have been written about love than any other topic? Scientific studies have shown that being in love causes our body to release feel-good hormones and neuro-chemicals that trigger specific positive reaction.
Our modern "throw-away" society encourages us to get rid of people in our lives who are difficult to get along with. But this is the complete opposite to the love that Paul describes. In 1st Corinthians 13, Paul writes a short, but powerful description of love. I also found in interesting that the word "love" is mentioned 46 times in the book of 1st John and there are 11 principles of love that are highlighted in 1st John.
11 Principles of Love Highlighted in 1 John
- Keeping God's Word is proof that we love God
- When we love our brother, we will live without stumbling.
- We are not to love the world or the things in the world.
- We can't love the world and love God.
- God's love prompted him to make us His children through the death of his son.
- Loving other believers is a fundamental requirement of Christian life
- A failure to love other Christians raises serious questions about the genuineness of our faith
- Genuine love always results in action; not just merely sentimental words
- God is the source of all love
- Mature love does not produce fear, but instead imparts courage
- Long before we loved God, He first loved us.
One of my biggest takeaways from this one night little study is that LOVE is a critical part of life. I love that we have Jesus as our example of how to love. I challenge you to find some time to sit down and dive into the topic of love.
One of my favorite Christian songs is a song written by Cory Asbury. The song is called Reckless Love.
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