Loyal Love

One of the deepest desires of the human heart is to love and be loved! With this love desire is the expecta:on that even when we mess up, we hope to be loved no ma=er what! We actually promise it in our marriage vowels, “for be=er or worse...” not realizing that nothing in all of crea:on can truly sa:sfy this longing. For sure, there are moments of sa:sfac:on in the joys of this wonderful life, and yet there are deep moments of heart ache and disappointment that leave us empty.

The Apostle John warns against loving what this life has to offer in I John 2:15-17:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (ESV).

We long for love by pursuing the desires of the flesh, which is our search for pleasure in this life, only to find that such sa:sfac:on is so temporary and condi:onal. We long for love by pursuing the desires of our eyes, which is our quest to accumulate possessions in this life, only to discover that it only sa:sfies un:l the next new and improved item is offered. We long for love in the pursuit of our pride, which is really the desire to be popular, well thought of or significant in the eyes of others. Did you catch what John says that these pursuits are temporary, “passing away?” Every day we have the opportunity to enjoy pleasures, possessions and popularity if granted according to His will, but ul:mately none of these pursuits will or even can sa:sfy the deep longing of hearts to love and be loved.

The prophet Jonah was asked of the Lord to preach to one of the greatest enemies of Israel. God said go the Assyrian’s capitol city of Nineveh and call them to repent from their ways. Jonah, the na:onalists that he was, decided to get on a ship and sail in the opposite direc:on. They deserved God’s judgment in his mind, and he wanted nothing to do with the possibility that God might care about them and show them mercy if they repented. Most of us know the story, but what Jonah says in Jonah 2:8 speaks directly to our longing for loyal love. In the depths of despair Jonah realizes that he has placed greater importance on his country than his call to walk with his God. His patrio:sm had become an idol. Jonah’s words are powerfully true, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast (loyal) love.”

Let’s not miss the eternal truth in this story. Our longing for loyal love through the temporary pursuits of this life will always leave us wan:ng for more. I like to say it’s like drinking salt water—it might temporarily sa:sfy your thirst, but it will ul:mately bring death.

Jonah’s pathway back to his calling and His God was realizing that loyal love is only found in being sa:sfied with our Creator and Savior. Any compe:ng affec:on is an empty and temporary dissa:sfac:on.

“For God so love the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV). Our longing to love and be loved is fully and forever sa:sfied in receiving His loyal love by faith in His Son and loving Him because of it!

Dr. David Ley is the President of Alaska Bible College.