Do you remember Sugar Babies? They still make those sugary caramel beans. I used to love them when I went to the “Picture Show” at the Colony Theater in Easley, South Carolina. The Sugar Babies tasted great but didn’t nourish me. For nourishment, I ate my grandmother’s Pinto beans, turnip greens, cornbread, and stewed beef. That was “soul food.”
Today, I am beginning to understand that possessions, pleasure, people’s praise, power to impress people, and safety from failure don’t feed my soul. They are Sugar Babies. The love of God is soul food.
Real Love is the love of God, unconditional love that cares about the well being of others without expecting anything in return. Real Love is grace. Imitation love is the praise, power, pleasure, and safety you try to get from other people, and it brings only temporary satisfaction and starves your soul. Real Love flows to you from God through people who have enough of it to give. They give it to you because God is Love and because you need to feel loved. If you try to earn it, you are going after imitation love. If you will give up trying to appear to deserve it and accept it just as you are, Real Love is yours.
More than any other writer in the Bible, John talks about God’s love as Real Love. He says God gave us an image of Real Love when he sent His Son into the world to lay down his life for us. He says Jesus’ example of Real Love is our inspiration for how we will live in the church. Most Christians know John 3:16 by heart. Let’s learn 1John 3:16 – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
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