Hype: Your Relationships

Hype 3

Hype: Your Relationships

by Daniel Carandang

written by Ashley Petallano

What love song best describes your life right now?

Na Sa'yo Na Ang Lahat?

The One That Got Away?

Buko?

Pusong Bato?

Most songs nowadays reflect on love- the bittersweet experience of falling in and out, waiting on someone who will never notice your affection, one-sided love affairs and the likes. Some even discuss the complex relationship of love and sex.

One of the top-selling songs hinted with love is Katy Perry's Dark Horse. 

The song has sold 7.2 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.In YouTube, the music video has about 470+million viewers. It's been watched and listened to by young people all over the world! There's actually much controversy concerning the video (Illuminati, drugs, witchcraft), but we’re gonna focus on what it says about how the world views love

If you've watched the music video, it shows Katy as an ancient Egyptian queen with magical powers, to whom different suitors go to and try to win. 

I knew you were

You were gonna come to me

And here you are

But you better choose carefully

'Cause I’m capable of anything

Of anything and everything

It seems as if Katy is cautioning the guys with falling in love with her. In the video, it's clear that she's challenging her suitors- daring them to come up and try her. 

Make me your Aphrodite

Make me your one and only

But don’t make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of beauty, fertility, and sexual love. She is variously described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, or as being born from the sea. Roman equivalent of Venus. This line pretty much reveals what's in the heart of Katy- she tells the suitors to make her his goddess of love, beauty, and sex,

“I NEED you”, “Ako nalang mahalin mo”, “love me, make me yours” “I will give you pleasure, don't turn your back on me.”

In summary, in the midst of the controversial issues surrounding it, in terms of “love”, Dark Horse is really talking about the kind of “love” that is being practiced by young people today—full of passion (only), interchanged love and sex. If you ask people, “what is love?” there will be a landslide of answers. We all have our definition of love from various sources.

What are some definitions of love?

“a wildly misunderstood, although highly-desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, and heart to beat faster.”

“a form of amnesia when a girl forgets there are 1.2B other guys in the world.”

“minsan ang lovelife parang siopao akala mo special yun pala bola-bola.”

WHAT IS LOVE? Where do you get your definition of love?

Many young people get their definition of love from Hollywood, movies, social media, music, and their favorite celebrities. We're a sucker for romantic comedies or chick flicks and it's obvious that we know numerous love songs by heart. We think we know all about love.

But think about it. If we know much about it, how come there still exists broken marriages and destroyed relationships?

The problem is that we are seeking for real love, but we have not consulted the Author of love—Love Himself. Unfortunately, many young people have this weird thinking that if they involve God in their love life, all the fun will go away, that it will be sad and lifeless. But nothing is farther from the truth.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 10:10

When it says “life to the full” it doesn't necessarily mean rich in earthly possessions but a life full of meaning, purpose, & satisfaction.Whether you believe it or not, it includes you love life! 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. 

1 John 3:16a

THAT is real love. 

However, there are numerous imitations. So many deceptive kinds of love. Branded items are known for being pirated, imitated and most of us belittle imitations. The same should be said for love. Imitated love is nothing compared to REAL love. 

We need a standard for this kind of love. And that is what Christ did on the cross for us.

1. REAL LOVE is SACRIFICIAL

What's the greatest sacrifice you've ever done for someone? Give up your chair for your mom? Resist from eating the last slice of pizza?

The Bible tells us of the greatest sacrifice for all of humanity. And that is Christ's death on the cross.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. 

1 John 3:16a

A brief background on this verse: the believers were being commanded to love one another. In chapter 3, John clearly defines the standard for real love. He says that Jesus’ death is the standard for real love. That seems quite confusing at first and quite weird. But we have to look at it this way:

The Creator of the universe, willingly left the comforts of His throne in heaven, taking on the form of a fragile human body and allowed Himself to be horribly brutally tortured, insulted, humiliated, and crucified to pay for the sins of people who rejected, cursed, insulted, & could care less about Him. You have to admit, it's unthinkable, but HE STILL CHOSE TO DO IT.

God coming to earth was not comfortable and let's face it, being crucified was no fun at all—but Jesus still did it…for us. He could have just stayed in heaven, created a new earth but He thought about us FIRST and He chose to selflessly and sacrificially die for us because He loved us.

That is LOVE.

As His followers, we are called to follow his example of love.

“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 our brothers and sisters.”

1 John 3:16

It’s easy to say "I love you" but it is so difficult/almost impossible to demonstrate real love because it entails sacrifice. It's not just all giggling feelings or physical attachment- it's responsibility and selflessness. Real love is literally laying down all that you are for the sake—for the highest good of the other person!

The norm for most of us is selfish love. Since we were babies, the only person we thought of constantly is ourselves. REAL LOVE is supernatural. It does not seek to gratify oneself, especially at the expense of others. Rather, it seeks to selflessly and sacrificially give.

If what you always think about are thoughts like “What about ME?” “What about MY pleasures, comfort, satisfaction?" and worse you seek to fulfill these selfish needs at the expense of the other person, then what you have is not real love, most likely, it’s just lust. Yep, you read right.

Are you really acting in love? OR just giving in to lust?

Ask yourself: is the relationship you have now sacrificial or purely focused on satisfying your needs?

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

1 Corinthians 13:7 

2. REAL LOVE is God-honoring

When Jesus made that act of extravagant love by dying on the cross, it honored God by putting on display God’s extravagant love, mercy, grace, compassion and holiness. Since His death on the cross is the standard of real love, real love, should also bring glory to God.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

1 Corinthians 13:4

REAL LOVE demonstrates the beauty of CHRIST. The expression of real love will inevitably bring honor to God. His death on the cross was an act of obedience to God the Father (Gethsemane—it was NOT easy, but He still did it and His act brought glory to God). 

Real love, though hard, will do what is right in the sight of God. “We’re doing this for God” - just because we're sacrificing or caring for someone does not necessarily mean what we have is God-honoring.

If what you have does not glorify God, if you need to hide it because you feel guilty or people will stumble when they find out about it, if it causes you to sin, then in all likelihood it’s not real love.But if what you have for the other person, honors God, draws you closer to Him, and when shared draws others to Him, then what you have is real love.

REAL LOVE is difficult to come by. If we base our standard of love with the world, we will not find it for sure. We should look at what Christ has done and only then will we understand what love is- it is unimaginable and beyond our wildest dreams.