What is Love?

This is something I wrote at the end of my freshman year of college.  If I were to write this today, I might say a few things differently, but it came to mind this weekend.  I may follow it up in a day or two with some more current thoughts!

What is love?  In a world where this word is so commonly used, this seems like somewhat of a silly question.  Honestly though, what is love?  Is there really “love at first sight”?  Not likely.  Something love is not is little butterflies in the stomach.  Sure, it is a by-product at times, but from observation, this is not what lasts – what defines love. 

                Lust is so often mistaken for love.  The American culture has somehow implemented this idea that we can be in love with anything – kind of odd if you really think about it.  Can we really be in love with our car, music, outfit, sport, etc? Not thinking so…  We not only lust after people, but we lust after material objects too.  We make people and objects our idols so quickly and frequently without even realizing it. We are trading in something spectacular for something cheap.  I’m right there too.  How often the words “I love…” come out of my mouth without any real thought or emotion.  Maybe we can love things, like our country.  I don’t know…I’m just wondering.  

                What about acceptance?  Is that love?  I mean, the feeling of being accepted can bring so much happiness and possibly even joy!  But love in some instances isn’t acceptance as much as it is honesty.  Sure, acceptance is a part, but parents are called to discipline their children too.  If there is never discipline or teaching, where will this world end up?  Balance…such an open-ended, hard to figure out, word. 

                Can non-Christians love?  It certainly seems they can, sometimes it even seems they do it better than Christians do.  We are created in the image of God; His mark is on us.  Loyalty, sacrifice, emotion, acceptance, discipline – what is love?  What makes Christians different than non-Christians?  Christ said that Christians would be known by their love for one another, so what does that look like? 

                Where have I seen authentic, genuine love?  I’ve seen it on Christmas day when a family takes a hot meal to an elderly woman with no family around her and spends a couple hours just visiting.  I’ve seen it when a couple takes someone into their household for a season, not just as a visitor, but as a family member.  I’ve felt it when someone is willing to sit and ask a few questions and listen to my heart for hours.  I’ve experienced it when people like me, even when they know my sins and weaknesses. 

                I guess love, in a lot of ways, boils down to motives.  Sure, non-Christians and Christians alike serve and give and listen, but why?  As I know is true in my life too, no one has pure motives all of the time.  That’s impossible unless you are Jesus, and we definitely are not.  The first item listed in the fruit of the Spirit is love.  There is a whole chapter devoted to describing it in 1 Corinthians.  Christ says the two greatest commandments are to love God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Seems to be a pretty big deal.  Also feels like we need the Holy Spirit’s help with this one. 

                It’s so easy for me to look at the question “Do you feel like you love God?” and jump straight into legalism.  Well, I fail at reading my Bible and praying consistently, so I guess not.  Thank goodness God loves me through my sin and thick-headedness.  How do I relate loving God to loving my family and closest friends?  Interesting to think about.  My love for God needs to be so much stronger, but I shouldn’t place love for Him on this level that I can never see or reach, right?  I will never be perfect on this earth, but seeing love for God as something I can work toward in His strength is a good starting place. 

                Really, I suppose I don’t have many answers.  We need to experience a revelation of the love of God – it appears that this changes most everything.  Paul prays this for the Ephesians, and just within the past couple weeks I realized that Ephesians 3 does not stop with his prayer that they experience the love of Christ.  He prays that they will know His love so that they “may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  It’s not solely a knowledge thing. 

                Love is putting others above ourselves – above our desires, needs, and wants.  It is looking for their good above ours.  Love is placing our hearts in front of others, bare and unguarded, allowing them to know who we are and letting them in.  We aren’t called to the same level of vulnerability with everyone, but we are not called to a life of fear and self-protection.  Man, such a hard lesson, and personally I have a long way to go.  That is such a scary thing.  Thankfully we have a God who will never leave us or forsake us, use us, or play with our hearts.  Knowing that He is right by our side is our motivation and encouragement to share ourselves with others and trust. 

                “Jesus, please show us how to be satisfied in You and You alone.  Teach us what it means to love and to be loved.  Help us to receive Your love, and let that love overflow from our hearts into the lives and hearts of those around us.  Give us a revelation of Your love, and let us never be the same again.  Amen.”