THE PRESSURE TO HAVE SOMEBODY. Finding contentment in God’s love

“You complete me,” a very famous sentence that we hear in numerous romantic scenes in movies. How does someone complete you? A question that often runs through my mind. Do they add a certain quality that makes you feel complete? Why aren’t you complete yourself, and what’s missing? 

Society emphasizes finding a partner to complete us and “Do life together.” The pressure to be with someone is growing, and many suffer from “the loneliness epidemic” that is simultaneously increasing with social media. How do we escape this need to find completion in another human and not drown in our loneliness? 

How does God guarantee us satisfaction in a world constantly suffocating from its standards of love and dating?

LOVE IS THE GREATEST 

 1 Corinthians 13:2 states, “And if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” Throughout this chapter, we see God telling us that anything we do is pointless unless it is motivated by love. 

1 Corinthians 13 goes on to further explain what love is. We see through this chapter what love requires and the accurate measurement of it according to God. It ends by saying, “Of the three remain: faith, hope, and love. Love is the greatest.”

Our entire doctrine as Christians is based on God’s love. We see that immediately after man's fall, God has already set a plan for redemption that revolves around love. This is incredible because God thought of saving us from the beginning through Jesus Christ when He told Eve that your son will crush the head of the serpent. 

Throughout scripture, we witness the most remarkable love story ever recorded, a love so great that God gave His beloved son as a sacrifice so that we may experience eternal salvation. 

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

When we read scripture and are exposed to the proper understanding of God’s love, contentment follows us because we are filled with His truth. Knowing the right way to love makes us understand that love is a sacrifice, and we gain wisdom on when to awaken it. 

Song of Solomon 8 vs 4 says, “ Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right.” The only way to awaken love at the right time is to understand what love is according to scripture. Love is patient, but are we practicing the patience within ourselves to wait for the right time to come? The world is constantly telling us to love, but what kind of love is being displayed? 

As believers, having a great understanding of what love is equips us to not fall into the temptation of the world because we understand God’s meaning of love. Having this understanding allows us to withstand worldly views, such as “hook-up culture” or “love who you love,” because we know that is not what God’s love is. 

This understanding also brings the comfort of feeling whole or complete in God, as you come to understand that God’s love for us is truly great. This knowledge enables us to find validation in God, rather than in the world. 

Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. — Oswald Chambers

LET’S GET PRAYERFUL

Even with the knowledge of God’s standard of love, we are encouraged to “Pray without ceasing.” This allows us to open up to God about our loneliness or temptation. And through the knowledge of what God’s meaning of love is, we are reminded that we are not alone and God will never leave us nor forsake us.