Seven Incredible Quotes about Love

I will start by saying I love love, well not the kind you’re thinking, I mean the other kind.?

While reading Everybody Always by Bob Goff(which I also loved), I was struck by how he examined love and life.

This was the second book I’ve read from the author.

The first was Love Does, which I read last February. Love Does had such a lasting impact that I knew I had to get my hands on his other books. Someday, I hope to share more about my experience reading Love Does, and how it changed the very way I handled the pandemic.

The author’s ability to clearly, and playfully share life-changing truths is humbling. He challenges our notions and is often not afraid to talk about the hard things.

One thread that I have found running through Bob Goff’s books, is the fact that he lives life ‘out loud’. You see a man who has not allowed his life to be dictated by society, or even the church’s expectations.

Many of his experiences are unusual and there were places where I felt anxious just reading about his adventures. He did and continues to do it all. I believe it takes a lot of courage to live like that. It also takes a lot of compassion and vulnerability to be able to step out and do what you do without stumbling through the ‘should’ves and would’ves’.

And that’s probably one of the biggest lessons I got.

The reminder that there is no particular path to Christianity or one way to live the Christian life. Bob Goff in this book reminds me that the overarching purpose of our lives is deepening our connection to God and allowing Him to live through us.

Seven Memorable Love Quotes from Everybody, Always

As I share these seven quotes, I will also provide some context where the subject matter or content may not be clear from just reading the quote.:

1. “Love isn’t something we fall into; love is someone we become.”

I wonder if this was a dig at the notion of ‘falling in love…’ You know, the free-falling feeling where someone makes you breathless (or takes your breath away), whichever you prefer(lol). Notwithstanding, it was a powerful reminder that God is love and as His children, we are able to become love.

 

2. “People don’t grow where they are informed; they grow where they’re loved and accepted.”

When we become love, we’ll spend more time celebrating others rather than comparing our lives and circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I find that there are times when I feel the need to correct, to dictate, to show others where they have gone wrong and the simple question we should ask is – who are we to point out another’s mistake?

I want to be like Jesus who told the adulterous woman that ‘…neither do I condemn you.’ Imagine that level of love and understanding. It wasn’t about whether what she did was wrong or right, but about who she was to him, she was His beloved, and we too are God’s beloved.

 

3. “Loving people is about caring without an agenda. As soon as we have an agenda, it’s not love anymore. It’s acting like you care to get someone to do what you want or what you think God wants them to do. Do less of that, and people will see a lot less of you and more of Jesus.”

Reading this quote again, what comes to mind are romantic relationships. We may not like to think about it or accept it but many times these types of relationships are often about ‘tit for tat’ – I love you, you love me. I treat you well and of course, you should do the same. But God’s love has never been about that. At least, I have not found it to be so. For if we were, then many of us will surely doubt God’s love going by our actions and how we treat him.

 

4. “The Bible is full of stories of people who messed up. It seems like failure in the world was a requirement for success with God.”

This statement is self-evident when you recall stories of people like – David, Moses, Rahab, Saul, Peter, Mary Magdalene, and so many more.

5. “People who are ticket counters are insecure about how much God loves us, so we mistakenly try to quantify how much we love Him back by offering Him success or accomplishments or status or titles. Here’s the problem: these are just a bunch of tickets that mean nothing to Him. He wants our hearts, not our help.”

The above statement cut deep. We often think we can buy God’s love, His forgiveness and His grace. We get into, whether consciously or unconsciously, this ‘do-gooder’ dance, where we saddle ourselves with all the good things we should be doing and beat ourselves up when we fail to do them. When we are in this horrible cycle, we often tell ourselves that we have failed in the eyes of God. I am forever grateful that God is not man and does not see life as we do.

 

On loving our enemies and difficult people, the author says:

6. “Sure, I will be polite to them, but sadly, I’ve spent my whole life avoiding the people Jesus spent His whole life engaging.”

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to the above statement, and even as I write this; I must confess that there are a few people I still avoid because I don’t know how to communicate with them. Lord help me!

This particular quote was more poignant when the author shared a story about forgiving a witch doctor, in Uganda, who he had prosecuted for child rituals (killing children and using their private parts for sacrifices). Even though Bob Goff had successfully prosecuted the case and the witch doctor had been sentenced to life, he felt God was nudging him to visit the witch doctor in prison. During one of these visits, the author forgave the witch doctor and “led” him to Christ. He goes on to say ‘there is no love without justice and no justice without love.

Powerful words!

 

I will leave you with the final quote below. In many ways, it is a call to action from the author to every one of us. It is a call to arise and become what we were always meant to be – love.

 

7. “Don’t just love the people who are easy to love; go love the difficult ones. If you do this, Jesus said you’d move forward on your journey toward becoming more like Him. Equally important, as you practice loving everybody, always, what will happen along the way is you’ll no longer be who you used to be. God will turn you into love.”

 

There you have it. Seven beautiful reminders about what love is and what love is not. There are so many more nuggets from the book, and it is one I will recommend over and over again. It will make you laugh, cry and reflect. A triple whammy! You can get a copy here.

Which one of the above quotes spoke to you personally, please share in the comments’ section below.