Being loved is just as essential to life as breathing is. The desire to be loved and to love is built into us. The problem is we go looking for love in the wrong places and to the wrong person to fill that desire.
Oh, we may think we have met the person that is the answer to our dreams. The one who truly get and loves us no matter how we squeeze the toothpaste. We get married and think that this is what love is all about. Until the honeymoon is over and he doesn't like what you thought was his favorite dish. It was not how his mom made it. The fairytale is over.
Human love is so wishy-washy, like clothes in a washing machine getting tossed around from one direction to a different. We could probably remember someone growing up that had a different boyfriend every time you turned around. The English language doesn't help either when we have only one word for love. I can say, "I love coffee." That is a fact but I do not love all coffee the same. Depending on the weather, my mood, and other factors will effect what type of coffee I want. Yes, there are a couple roast, and beans that I don't care for at all. Because I don't like or care for them doesn't change the fact that I love coffee.
I love my husband but I do not love him the same way that I love coffee. Do I love him more when he brings me coffee in bed on the weekends? Well, maybe, but that is because he is showing me that he loves me by doing so. It is a conditional love and even that is not the love that we so desire to have. Conditional love changes based on what is going on. Do I still love my husband when he is not bringing me coffee? Yes. Does how much I love him ever change? Yes, especially when we don't see eye to eye on something.
None of these types of love is something that we can abide, live in, because they are constantly changing. In order for us to abide in love we need a love that is never changing. The only place we can find a love like that is in God. He loved us before the world was created. Before we were born, He sent His Son to pay the debt for all the wrong things that we would do. His love has been consistent since the beginning of time and will never change. This is the love that will fill our desire for love. The love that makes us complete.
When we are abiding in His love, we are able to be the person He created us to be. We can love others with the love He has given us. We won't feel threatened by others because we know that He loves us for who we are and that is all that matters.