02/15/2026 Love Rewritten | Dysfunctional Love

Genesis 29-30

Big Idea: Dysfunctional love breaks relationships, but God rewrites them with His love.

We don’t love badly because we’re evil, we love badly because we’re empty.

Love needs to be about giving, not getting.

Dysfunctional love on display:

Leah craves to be seen. (Chosen but not wanted)

Rachel craves to be chosen.

Jacob loves selectively.

Everyone is wounded and wounding. We buy into the lie because we think it will satisfy our desires. We tend to operate out of fear, not faith. Control is fear with a strategy.

Three freedom truths to overcome dysfunctional love:

1. You don’t have to perform to be loved by God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Love didn’t begin with your effort, it began with God’s grace.

2. You don’t have to compare to be valuable. You were fearfully and wonderfully made perfect in God’s image.

3. You don’t have to control to be secure. (Romans 8:38-39)