Everyone wants it. Without it, life would be incomplete and desperate. People try in many different ways to discover it, yet the pursuit has caused more heartache and pain, more brokenness and bitterness, than all the diseases and all the wars in history (Josh McDowell Handbook). Many young people struggle to understand what LOVE is and how they can find it. A lot of you are willing to give almost anything in order to experience love, especially from someone of the opposite sex. Ask yourself how many times you or your friends have set yourself up for heartache, disappointment, and tragic miscalculations and mistakes because you lacked a clear understanding of what love is and what it isn’t. Is there anyone reading this sick and tired of being sick and tired of making the same mistakes over and over again? If you are, just wave your hands where you are and know that help is on the way.

First of all, you have to be honest and ask yourself, do I really know what love is. Am I confusing real love with other experiences and emotions? If so, you’re not alone. Why, because, a lot of you have heard your schools sex ed classes try to teach the mechanics of sex without God’s blueprint of sex, especially when they try to teach you how to apply condoms (Josh McDowell Handbook). Condoms don’t protect you from the spiritual and emotional problems that come with fake love/lust. Then you have certain artists and TV stars trying to warn you about practicing safer sex because you’re going to do it anyway, so you might as well protect yourself. But ask yourself this question, how many of your friends have come up pregnant or with a disease while still using a condom and how many have come up pregnant or with a disease by remaining a virgin and waiting for God’s best?

Real love isn’t the same as lust, real love isn’t the same as romance, and real love isn’t the same as passion. Let’s be real, if real love is all that, why are so many young ladies showing so much cleavage and open belly buttons? Now before you use the excuse that society has put in your brain about it’s the culture, ask yourself, did I wear it on my own or did the enemy put it in my head by using commercials, videos, and movies? All we’re saying is why are you mad at a boy for only wanting you for your body, when the first thing you throw up in his face is revealing and tight clothing. Why are my brothers upset and call a girl stuck up, just because she’s trying to save herself for marriage? Then, have the nerve to say, that’s alright, I’ll go to somebody else because there’s always someone out here that will give me what I want. Young people, know that God wants you to know true love and not real lust. God’s word has so many examples of how He can prepare you for real love. Unfortunately, some of us are tricked about love by reading too many secular magazines or drowning our emotions with songs that promote ungodly love. Many of us were never taught about love, so we go through life making a lot of bad decisions that end up hurting us. There has to be a balance between the things you allow to help shape who you are and how you measure real love. Don’t allow society to tell you how to show love to others. Instead, allow God to guide you with His perfect love because God’s love will never hurt you. (1 John 3:11-20)

Real Love examples reprinted by permission by Josh McDowell Ministries, www.josh.org