How Do I Know If It’s True Love?

If you’ve been dating someone for a while and you really like them, you may
start asking yourself, “Is this love? How do I know?” The Bible has tons to
say about loves of all kinds, including romantic, friendship, and familial.
The Bible also says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Jesus demonstrated
God’s amazing love for us by dying on the cross for our sins and rising
again so that we can be saved and live with Him forever. Overcoming death
and sin is a huge demonstration of love, but how do we relate Jesus’s love
and actions to those of our significant other?

Love should look like Jesus. Does your partner treat you and others with
compassion, mercy, kindness, patience, selflessness, and humility—the way
Jesus treated those around Him? It sounds like a tall order, but true love
includes all those things. Yes, none of us are perfect, so we won’t display
all these attributes of love all the time, but the Holy Spirit moves us
toward them. As we seek to follow Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit’s work
should be present in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). It might be easier to
ask, “Does my significant other value becoming more like Jesus each day?
And do I become more like Jesus when I spend time around my partner? Would
my partner give in a self-sacrificing way?”

The person you’re dating might be fun to hang out with, but if you’re
thinking about marrying a person, your relationship should reflect the
relationship that Jesus has with His church. Jesus demonstrated a deep
affection for us, His people, and He hasn’t abandoned us to be on our own.
He invites us to rely on His help and
guidance in every decision we face.

If you’ve made it to the end of this devotion and you’re still not sure
about any of this, that’s okay! Dating and falling in love isn’t always a
straight path, but you can trust that God’s love for you will always be a
steady relationship. ⦁ Naomi Zylstra

⦁ Who is someone you love (such as a friend, family member, or significant
other)? How does this love reflect the love Jesus has for us?

⦁ What does self-sacrificing love look like to you?

⦁ The Bible tells us that Christians should not seek to marry
non-Christians (1 Corinthians 7:39; 2 Corinthians 6:14). Why do you think
this is the case?

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8
(NLT)

Read Verses:

1 Corinthians 13:4-1 Corinthians 13:7; 1 John 4:8