Love and the Trinity

How would you demonstrate that your love is perfect?  If you’re all by yourself it is pretty hard to prove that you have love.  But if you are in relationship with someone, experiencing the rough and tumble of personal interaction, facing each other day after day, you have a case for saying your love is real based on how you interact with them.

But isn’t there another test required to give evidence of your love?  What if someone else is entered into the relationship equation?  How does your love fare if there is “competition”?  Can you share the love you have had with one other in a triad of relationship?

The Bible says, “God is love,” (1 John 4:8,16).  Before anything existed, God was experiencing and demonstrating love at the deepest level.  Each member of the Trinity was showing love to the other perfectly, without competition, jealousy, or selfishness of any kind.  He could not have proven that He is love without a triad of relationship.  To be love, God has to be triune.

The Trinity is the model of how relationship should go in our lives.  It is the basis of family love, because God has lived as a family for all eternity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They trust one another enough to give of themselves totally, they take delight in each one’s love for the other, they demonstrate respect for each one’s character and function, they cooperate at the most difficult levels, and they have allegiance to and gratitude for the love each one has for the other.

How are you doing in this respect?  How are you patterning your relationships after the Trinity?  God delights to see His love imitated (Ephesians 5:1,2).  If you are dating, is your goal to maintain the relationship at all costs, or is it to help the other find out if you or someone else is the best for them?  If you’re a parent, is your goal to lavish all your attention on one of your kids, or is it to help the whole family have a balanced relationship of love and responsibility.  As a church member, are you there to see what you can get for yourself, or do you consider the interests and needs of others as more important than your own (Philippians 2:3,4)?