What is love? No I am not referring to the song.
I am sure you have heard it and have even said “I Love You” to someone. In return what did the person almost always say? “I Love You Too”. However, have you ever stopped to ask yourself what does that one four letter word actually mean?
Love according to an online dictionary means
- A feeling of strong desire or constant affection for a person
- Attraction that includes sexual desire: the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship
- A great liking
Is this why people can so easily fall in and out of love? Is this why the divorce rate is somewhere between 40-50%.
Now lets look at what the Bible has to say about love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7New International Version (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Wow! The two types of love are very different. The emotional type of love does not seem to be working and is causing more harm than good in our society. What do I mean by this? Emotional love can result in: premarital sex and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, early/unwanted pregnancies which lead to abortion, adultery which leads to mistrust and potentially divorce, and addictions such as pornography.
If you look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and use that as your basis for love then think about how you will treat the person you are with. This type of love will lead to a stronger relationship that will be ever lasting in that you: are slow to anger, you endure personal wrongs and do not retaliate nor do you keep record of such wrongs, you can bear faults and differences in others, you give people room to make mistake, you will help without repayment, you are gentle, you are not jealous, you are not selfish, you are not rude, you do not offend, you are not suspicious or doubting the other persons character or motives without a good reason, and you do not expect the relationship to fail.
If people would have this type of attitude towards love, just think how differently our world would be. Maybe we should try to love as defined in the Bible versus the emotional type love. I am not saying that you cannot have the strong affection or sexual attraction to a person, but I am saying it should not be the driving force for the relationships. Lets face it, what drives you to want to be with that particular person initially? It is the physical attraction or affection you have for them. What makes you want to continue to be with that person? It could be the physical attraction or affection, but it could be something much deeper. However, If you love someone as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 it will only make the emotional love that much better.
Think about this, if God did not love us would we still be here? Would God have sent his son to die on the cross for our (my) sins?