Love
Love is a wonderful thing. So what is this wonderful thing called love? Ask a young lady who is in love for the first time and then ask a young man the same question. Do you think you would get the same answer from both? Have you ever asked anyone what is love? If you have, you probably have received a wide range of answers. Think about it. What is your answer? What do you mean when you tell someone “I love you?”
People say they love things all the time. I love my dog, I love ice cream, I love my job, and I love summer weather. I love swimming, I love my new bathing suit, and I love driving my new car to the beach. Is love always being happy and getting what you want? Does love always feel good? Is love always easy? Is love a feeling or an emotion? When we say we love some thing or some one, what does that mean? What is love?
If you ask a group of young people what they love, you get a wide range of answers. They love staying up late, sleeping in late, having no homework, having freedom; they love their boy friend or girl friend, they love when they are with their friends, they love wearing nice clothes, and they love good music and having fun. Then ask them what is love. You probably will get a puzzling stare from them all.
Ask a group of adults what they love, and listen to what you hear. They may say that they love their quiet time, vacations, their car or maybe their dog. Surely we would hear they love their spouse and children; maybe we’d be told they love money, their job or their home, or perhaps they love having freedom and playing golf. Then stop and ask them what is love? How do you define love? Some would say it is a wonderful feeling, having what you need and being able to be happy and be healthy. Love is having no worries and being comfortable and being able to do what I want with whom I want. Love is being successful and having plenty of resources to have fun. Love is being with someone with whom I like to be. Is this how you define love?
Lets see how the Webster’s New World Dictionary defines love. “Love: To be fond of or desire; a deep and tender feeling of affection for an attachment or devotion to another; an expression of affection, a feeling of good will and brotherhood toward other people, a strong, usually passionate, affection of one person to another, based in part on sexual attraction, to delight and take pleasure in, and/or to gain benefit from; to feel the emotion of pleasure without payment.” According to Webster, love is a feeling. It is pleasure, affection and passion. It is the feeling of delight and benefit without a price. Is this how you would define love?
The above is the typical secular way of defining love. It is center on self and on one’s own desires, pleasures, and feelings. Our media, theater, publications, television, advertisement, and communications all transmit this definition daily to us defining love as centered on self, feelings, affections and sexual pleasure. This is why when we ask people what they love and what is love we get a wide range of answers that are secular in nature and not spiritual.
One thing that needs to be made very clear at this juncture, love is not a feeling and it is not about self!
How important is love? As written by Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, “If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but did not love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but did not love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrifice my body, I could boast about it, but if I did not love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.” Then in verse 13 it is declared, “There are three things that will endure – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” That tells us that love is very important. To love each other is one of Jesus Christ’ commands. So what is love?
Again referencing 1 Corinthians 13, now verses 4 –7 we read, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Love is actions and not feelings. Re-writing the above using God instead of the word love clearly shows God’s loving actions toward us. God is patient and kind. God is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. God does not demand its own way. God is not irritable, and He keeps no record of when He has been wronged. God is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. God never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
All are actions of love, patience, kindness, humbleness, understanding, pleasantness, truthfulness, and honesty, caring, giving and never losing hope or faith. What is the most powerful act of love? Forgiveness is the most powerful act of love. If you do not believe so wait until you need forgiveness and it is withheld.
The fact is God gave his only begotten son to die for our salvation. What a powerful act of love. Jesus Christ suffered public whippings, beatings, being spit on, thorns crushed ion to his head and crucified on the cross. He hung on a cross with nails piercing his hands and feet in the blistering sun until he suffocated with exhaustion. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead and is alive sitting at the right hand of God the father. This fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament when Isaiah said God would send a light, one that would shine on everyone in the shadow of death to deliver us from the slavery of our sins. God allowed his son to be the sacrificial lamb to free us from our sins and give us eternal life. Thereafter through our repentance from sin and asking of forgiveness through Jesus Christ we can be made righteous with God and be saved. That is a powerful act of love! This would be like in today’s world if a person was sentenced to death for a serious hideous hateful crime against your family. Then at the time of his execution you not only pardon him but also lift him from the electric chair and sit in it yourself to accept his punishment. How many of us could even consider such a act of forgiveness and love? That is what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did for us.
Love is not about self. It is not self-serving or looking for gain or comfort. Love is not a feeling; love is actions of kindness, forgiveness, giving, teaching, sacrifice, and putting other people’s needs first. When we truly love others we invite others to love us. Think about it. Have you ever had someone love you with actions of goodness, forgiveness, sacrifice, understanding, assistance, caring and kindness that you in turn could not love back? Love generates more love. Is love easy? No. Is love always comfortable? No. Are loving actions always beneficial in return? No. Pure love is not self-serving. It is humble, quiet, considerate, and giving actions for the sole benefit of another without any expectation of anything in return. Sometimes this means serving, which may cause you to suffer. Sometimes this means sacrifice that may cause you pain. Love can mean giving that will deplete self. Love is forgiving when doing otherwise would be easier. Love takes energy when energy is sparse. Loving others can be hurtful.
But remember, there is three things that will endure above all – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love. God is love, and love is God. As Christians, we need to try to be Christ-like, which means we should love thy neighbor as thy self. Give, serve, help, teach, forgive, assist, sacrifice, and deplete yourself to loving acts. God’s love for us is never ending; He showed us that through his son Jesus Christ. Even when we fail to love as Christ commanded, we should never give up as God has never given up on us.
Go in peace and serve the Lord with acts of love.
