ACE #136: Searching for a Real Love

I remember my freshman year in college like it was yesterday.  The fondest memories come from dorm life where we could hear music up and down the hallways all hours of the day and night.  One of my favorite artists at the time was this newcomer named, Mary J. Blige.  She sang a song called, "Real Love".  It had a bass groove and drum beat that is still unforgettable.  If the first bar was played, people would know instantly what the song was and could easily fall in step with it.  Some of the words were:

I've been searching for someone
To satisfy my every need
Won't you be my inspiration
Be the real love that I need

Real love
I'm searching for the real love
Someone to set my heart free
Real love
I'm searching for a real love

Oh when I met you I just knew
That you would take my heart and run
Until you told me how you felt for me
You said I'm not the one
So I slowly came to see
All of the things that you were made of
And now I hope my dreams and inspiration
Lead me towards a real love

Sadly, by the end of the song Mary is still searching for real love.  As I've gotten older, I've realized that music has its genre and timeframe, but love - unconditional love - doesn't.  It lasts through the ages.  On this Valentine's Day, if you're looking for real love, the kind of love that endures forever, the kind of love that doesn't reject you, I encourage you to look to God first and yourself next.  God's love has no limits and no boundaries.  Time or space can't control it or change it. And God is always faithful.

 

1 John 4:19                     

We love because he first loved us. 
  
Romans 5:8                

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  
 
John 3:16                
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

  

Ephesians 3:19              

And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
  

Jeremiah 31:3                

The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

 

John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

Isaiah 41:13                    
For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
   
1 John 4:10            

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.