What's Love Got to Do With It? That is the title of a song that was popular in the 1980s. I don't know the whole song, but I do recall a couple of lines from it. "What's love, but a sweet, old-fashioned notion?" Isn't that what the world thinks of love? A sweet, old-fashioned notion? I have noticed the Valentine's Day cards are out already. Is that what "love" is about? Getting a card and box of chocolates for your sweetheart? The song goes on to say: "What's love, but a second-hand emotion?" And, "Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?" Isn't true love that lasts forever something that is old-fashioned or read about in fairy tales? This "second-hand emotion" only leads to trouble, because it breaks hearts.

Do you think it is fair to say that people in general today have a lack of trust in this thing called love? Hasn't it hurt so many people? In broken relationships? Sexual diseases? Unwanted pregnancies? Divorce? Domestic violence? Murder? Even suicide because of heart-break and loneliness? Doesn't it seem that love can be a wicked thing? A disappointing thing? Even a depressing thing? Human love is so often disappointing. Hasn't it shown us that we really cannot trust it? If so, why?

"Romantic love" so often leads to heartache and heartbreak because it becomes selfish. Wouldn't you agree that people are looking for what they want to get out of relationships instead of what is best for the other person? The love of friendships has the same problem. How often aren't friends disloyal, and go behind our backs? Even the parental love for their children, that "familial love," can't be trusted, can it, when we have child abuse and people auctioning off their kids to the highest bidder? What's love got to do with it, is right! Nothing! I am going to tell you about a different kind of love today, though. God's love in Christ. Christian love is different! What's this love got to do with it?

There's a good example of this love in the life of Abraham Lincoln. From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic, an enemy, who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton. Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was a "low cunning clown" and "the original gorilla". He said it was ridiculous for explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla "when they could find one easily in Springfield, Illinois." Lincoln never responded to such slander; he never retaliated in the least. And when, as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton. When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, "Because he is the best man for the job."

Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin's bullet murdered the president in a theater. Lincoln's body was carried off to another room. Stanton came, and looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, "There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen." Stanton's animosity had finally been broken. How? By Lincoln's patient, long-suffering, non-retaliatory love.

Would you say that this kind of love is common among people? In my experience, it hasn't been. In fact, trying to put myself in Lincoln's place, it would be hard to imagine doing what he did. What Lincoln did imitated a higher kind of love. Don't get me wrong, Abe Lincoln was not perfect. He was a sinner too. But this example, which is just a meager reflection of God's love in Christ, might just help us grasp how wonderful Christ's perfect love for us is! God loved us in spite of how we treated Him. His love for us was patient. It was selfless. He put our good before his own Son's life. And his love was an action. It wasn't just words.

You and I are like Edwin Stanton. That's right, we have treated God with contempt. We haven't worshiped Him the way we should, or made the commitment to Him in our life that He deserves. We haven't given Him the priority in our thoughts and time at home. We haven't thanked Him the way we should. Like Stanton, we have criticized God and called Him names, too. We have certainly used his Name in ways we shouldn't. We have criticized things He has done in our life and asked Him why. We have questioned his decisions. We maybe have even questioned his existence! And we have slandered his Name to others. Every one of our visible actions and audible words that don't glorify Him really gives others a bad impression of God. That's right, we may as well call Him a "gorilla."

So, the day comes when we finally realize God is in charge, and that He should really kick us as far as He can, but what does He do? He shows us the ultimate in patient love! He sends his own Son to take our guilt away by suffering for it in our place. But you and me, He exalts! That doesn't make sense. Not to us who can't really trust the human kinds of love. This love is different! It is perfect! It acts on our behalf despite of what we have done! You are exalted and forgiven. You are loved. That is the greatest gift and it lasts forever.

It changes your life, too. I have another story today about Eli Wiesel, the Jewish theologian whose family, during the dark days of WWII, was waiting for their time to come, for the Nazis to arrive at their door and take them to labor camp. He tells about a peasant woman by the name of Maria. Maria was almost like a member of the family. She was a Christian. During the early years of the war she continued to visit them, but eventually non-Jews were no longer allowed entrance to the ghettos. That did not deter Maria. She found her way through the barbed wire and she came anyway, bringing the Wiesels fruits, vegetables, and cheese. One day she came knocking at their door. There was a cabin that she had up in the hills. She wanted to take the children, of which Eli was one, and hide them there before the SS came. They decided after much debate to stay together as a family, although they were deeply moved at this gesture. He writes of her: "Dear Maria. If other Christians had acted like her, the trains rolling toward the unknown would have been less crowded. If priests and pastors had raised their voices, if the Vatican had broken its silence, the enemy's hand would not have been so free. But most thought only of themselves. A Jewish home was barely emptied of its inhabitants before they descended like vultures. I think of Maria often, with affection and gratitude, and with wonder as well. This simple, uneducated woman stood taller that the city's intellectuals, dignitaries and clergy. My father had many acquaintances and even friends in the Christian community, not one of them showed the strength of character of this peasant woman. Of what value was their faith, their education, their social position, if it did not arouse their love?"

This is what a man who wasn't Christian wrote about Christian love. The love God has shown you changes your life. Even though we are never perfect, we are reflectors of God's love. Our love reflects God's divine patient, active love. It is not only our way to say thank you to Him, it also is our opportunity to show others what a wonderful thing God's love for them is. We don't earn God's love by the things we do. Maria wasn't better in God's sight because of the way she showed love. Maria, you, and I are perfect in God's sight because of what He has done for us. Through faith in this promise, that hope is made sure and certain for each of us.

But who was doing a better job of saying "thank you" to God and showing others what a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian: Maria, or the other Christians in the town the Wiesel family knew? "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to the poor, but have not love, I am nothing." Faith is obviously important in our Christian life, and so is knowledge of God's Word. But if we never show love along with that faith, no one will be able to see what a great thing that faith is. Don't talk about how you love God and others. Love God and others! It is an action. Love others, and most importantly, love their souls. Share Jesus with them. Remember how Stanton's animosity against Lincoln finally broke down? Our animosity toward God is finally broken down because of how amazing and patient his love is with us.

What's love got to do with it? Everything. Why does verse 13 say, "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."? Because without love, without God's love, you wouldn't have any reason to have faith in Him and no sure hope to look forward to! But with God's love, you have all of the above! His love has everything to do with you being in heaven with Him forever! Amen.

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