With today being Valentine’s Day, affection will be on display. Of all the feelings out there, love is different. Love does something unique. It can motivate. When I say motivation, I am focusing on what this feeling drives us to do. Love can make any of us go the extra mile for those we care for in our lives. Love can motivate us to be our best for those we love.

What does the Bible say about love? Let us look at 1 Corinthians 13. The Apostle Paul details what it is and is not. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, it says, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”

Paul then emphasizes the importance of love at the end of the chapter. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  

Overall, while we have our way of showing affection, each of us is loved. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Even if we are motivated by those we love, we should know that God loves each of us. That should be motivating enough.