The Reverend Dr Kwadwo Boateng Bempah of the Holy Hill Assemblies of God Church, has advised the youth to go into relationships with God-fearing people.

He said God represented true love, and that, no human could love a person better, except the one who has the fear of God and loves the things of God.

“Choose someone who loves God more than you because no one can truly love you without first loving God. If he or she portrays to love you more than God, it is a deception. It is also a huge red flag if your partner complains that you love the things of God more than you love him or her. Such a person is dangerous and won’t take you far in life.”

“Many have been deceived with sugarcoated words and tricked into believing that their partners love them only to be disappointed later in life by this same person. If you are looking for love, first look for God,” he said.

Rev Dr Bempah advised on Sunday during a Valentine’s Day event dubbed: “One Night with Love.”

He quoted scriptures from Matthew 22:37-39, saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Rev Dr Bempah explained that the kind of love emphasised in the scripture was the “Agape” kind of love—derived from the Greek word meaning unconditional love.

He said that God-kind of love involved a deep affection or goodwill for people irrespective of how unqualified they may be and defied ethnic affiliation, social standing, and academic qualification, among others.

“God’s kind of love is not based on anything else apart from the largeness of His heart and the decision to accept us regardless of our flaws. If not for God’s Agape love, we would not be able to come to Church because we are all sinful. We have all gathered under Jesus’ feet today because His love has attracted us.”

“The Church must learn how to love like Christ does and not like the world. The Body of Christ should be without strife and quarreling because we will be judged based on love—how we treated people and loved others unconditionally.”

He cautioned against entering relationships solely based on the other person’s financial strength, level of education or physical appearance but rather, focus more on the quality of one’s character.

“Fall in love without conditions because God’s love is without conditions. Don’t accept someone’s proposal because he is rich, educated or has a good social standing. Those aspects are good though but it is dangerous to always count on such things to make a decision. As a man, don’t also propose to a lady solely because of her physical features. That is a very wrong way to go. Look beyond a lady’s appearance and focus more on the innate qualities she possesses,” he added.

Rev. Dr. Bempah encouraged them to be people who honoured their word and remained committed to their partners to the end.

He advised the congregants never to give out sex as proof of their love because true love was pure and not sexual, adding that, any partner who requested or offered to give sex as proof of his or her love did not really love or know God.

“Real love does not sin because sin brings shame and not joy. Many who experimented with sex as proof of love have been wounded emotionally, mentally, physically and even led to the untimely death of some,” he said.