“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 5:13).
Every little girl longs of that day when she walks down the aisle to the man of her deepest dreams. Every young man wants to be the first of his friends to have that girlfriend that “just rocks.” Since our earliest days, the world has carved into our memories the idea of true love and its emotions. The spark, kisses, comforting hugs, and the planning of that great wedding day, the emotions and heights of chemistry made during the dating process, remain what people people think about when they say those words “true love.”
However, when you watch a great love story or one of Disney’s thrilling fairy tales, something always seems to be missing. Since the very beginning, everyone is made to think falling in love is the only true love there can be. I’ve always wanted to just ask a child what true love really means to them before their ideas of it are totally warped by movies. Some of them might answer what we’ve been hearing all our lives. Other children might answer with the love of their mother or father or a great personal role model in their young lives. But, one day, I wish to ask my children this question, and I’d hope they say this:
True love isn’t only two people giving everything to each other and for each other. I hope they tell me that the movies are wrong in their gross misrepresentation of what love is. True love is two arms outstretched across a wooden plank. A wounded perfect man carrying the sins of all His people upon His shoulders is my true love. True love descends with the holy soul enduring the very depths of fiery damnation to cover my transgressions. True love arose like my resurrected Savior arose on the third day and led our victory over the grave. True love ascended with my God to give me hope of eternal life, and I know He will come again to bring His vengeance upon His and my enemies.
My friends, brothers, and sisters in our Holy Risen Savior, true love can be finding a man and woman who loves you with all they have. True love might be a mother or father, role model, or a bond of family or a friendship that you may have with a human here. Still, nothing will compare the true love my Heavenly Father shows me every day of my life. His promises hide in my heart. His mercies renewed in my life every morning give me hope and peace for the day ahead. His words enclose my heart in a wrapping of comfort. His story lives in my soul as I am daily reminded He gave His life for me that I can now call Him my Friend. There is no greater love than this.
Ariel Bosman
Young Calvinists 