From the Pulpit: Does love conquer all?

Love. Seems like a fitting word to talk about around Valentine’s Day. What is your concept of love? Is love this abstract power that can conquer the world? Is love warm feelings that you have inside of you? Or is love something else?

Whether you knew it or not, your definition of love was formed from a young age. You learned from those around you what love is and what love isn’t. In your life, you have seen love triumph and you have seen love fail. You have come to know that love can be a very powerful thing. But the million-dollar question is: Does love conquer all? 

We’d like to think that is the case, but perhaps experience tells you otherwise. Love didn’t save your marriage, love didn’t stop mom’s cancer from spreading, and love certainly didn’t stop those two cars from colliding. 

Love is a beautiful thing, but maybe it doesn’t have as much power as the TV or movies would like us to think. 

The truth is an abstract concept of love or a feeling of love does not conquer much. There is only one love that conquers all. That love is God’s love for you! His love for you is powerful and unrelenting. His love is not abstract. His love is love with a purpose, direction, and action. His love is shown in the actions of Jesus, who hung on a cross for you. That was the ultimate act of love! 

Jesus’ act of love for you is not an abstraction or a feeling, but a concrete fact that has tangible blessings. The love of Jesus conquers the largest problems in your life – death, worries, sickness, pain, all of it! In its place he gives you faith, hope, peace, eternal life, and love. 

Paul says as much, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)