Covenant Love vs. Counterfeit Love

“When you hear the word love, what comes to mind?

Attendees at a conference were asked this question. One immediately said family. The other, just as quickly, said pain. Isn’t it interesting how the same word can hold such different meanings depending on our experience?

The difference between the love the world describes and the love God offers is what I call counterfeit love versus covenant love.”

Covenant Love Defined (Truth)“God’s love isn’t fickle or based on feelings. It’s steadfast. Unchanging. Eternal.

Romans 5:8 says, ‘But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

That is covenant love, a love sealed not with words, not with promises we might break, but with the cross.”

Counterfeit Loves (Contrast)“The problem is, we’ve all been handed filters that distort our understanding of love. Culture, songs, movies: they’ve taught us counterfeit versions of love.

A song says: ‘I can’t live if living is without you.’ That’s dependency, not love. But Philippians 4:19 says, ‘My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.’
A movie once told us: ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry.’ But 1 John 1:9 says, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ Love always makes room for confession and forgiveness.
Whitney Houston sang: ‘I will always love you.’ Beautiful words, but human love fades. 1 Corinthians 13:8 says, ‘Love never fails.’ Only God’s covenant love truly lasts forever.
And who remembers Jerry Maguire? ‘You complete me.’ It sounds romantic, but Colossians 2:10 tells us, ‘In Christ you have been brought to fullness.’ We are already complete in Him.

Do you see the difference? Culture sings about love, but only God is love. (1 John 4:8)”

The Cross as the Anchor ()“Every counterfeit version of love leaves us empty eventually. But the cross—oh, the cross—is God’s eternal anchor.

At the cross, God says: ‘You are fully known. You are fully loved. You are fully forgiven.’

Jeremiah 31:3 says, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’

His covenant love doesn’t depend on your feelings or your performance. It depends only on His faithfulness. (2 Timothy 2:13)” Which counterfeit message about love (from culture, songs, or movies) has influenced you the most, and how does God’s covenant love correct that?

April’s Story (Application)“Let me share a story. April grew up surrounded by rejection and abandonment. Her idea of love was tied to performance: if she was good enough, maybe she wouldn’t be left again. She carried that filter into relationships, clinging to counterfeit love that promised everything but delivered pain. But then, April met Jesus. She began to realize that God wasn’t asking her to earn His love; He had already given it, completely, at the cross. 1 John 3:1 says, ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!’

For the first time, she experienced covenant love: love that adopts, heals, restores, and never walks away. Today, April lives not in fear of being abandoned, but in the freedom of being chosen and secure. (Ephesians 1:5)”

Now, let’s turn this back to you.

When you first hear the word love, what’s the word that comes to mind, and how does it compare with the way God defines love in His Word? Is it family? Pain? Rejection? Romance? Whatever it was, God wants to replace that filter with the truth of His covenant love.

Romans 8:38–39 says, ‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ He wants to anchor you, not in the counterfeit messages of culture, but in the unshakable truth of the cross.”

“So today, if you’ve been carrying a false filter of love, I invite you to lay it down at the cross. Take hold of the covenant love that never fails.

Let’s declare this truth together with the song: God So Loved by We The Kingdom. https://youtu.be/Yb0wMYy_pJk?si=FMdtbdm6wm-lGdPA

Because the good news is this: John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

Not a counterfeit promise, but a covenant sealed forever.”

What step can you take this week to anchor yourself more deeply in God’s covenant love through prayer, scripture, or an act of love toward someone else?

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