Love is described in many ways, an emotion, an action, a romantic notion, but what is it really? Songs wax lyrical that it is, ‘as vast as an ocean’, or make the claim, ‘it’s a second-hand emotion’. The film Love Story had the famous line in, ‘Love is never having to say sorry!’
The Dictionary definition is: An intense feeling of deep affection like ‘babies fill the parents with feelings of love’ or a great interest and pleasure in something like ‘his love of football’.
But the most comprehensive description of love can be found in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. This description gives the full gamut of the meaning. This passage has been used at many weddings as the standard of love within marriage, but it is much more than that. It is the standard of how we as Christians should love every day.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
This powerful Bible passage tells us that love never fails us when we know how to love. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that our love for them continues. They live on in our memories, they’re part of our life story, and become our shared history. It also says we can do the most incredible and amazing things with our lives and achieve much, but it is hollow without love.
Matthew 22:37-39 informs us that the greatest commandment is to love God, and second is to love our neighbours as ourselves. It seems impossible to do one without the other. To love to that depth surely means we must first know we are completely loved. Parents love their children and will know of and understand unconditional love and the ability to forgive. How much more does the Father of Creation, the one who knew us in our mother’s womb, love us (Psalm 139:13-16). He so desires that intimate relationship with us that he sent His Son, Jesus into the world to live and die (John 3:16). A deep relationship, to know and to be fully known as we are, warts and all as they say!
To understand love to its fullest depths we need to know our Creator and enjoy that relationship. Yes, we are all capable of being charitable and giving our time and resources. We’re all capable of doing good deeds but love takes it higher, deeper, perseveres and endures longer. Love gives us the strength to love the unlovable, to go the extra mile and the mile after that. Love doesn’t give up on people who let us down or hold on to those who cause us harm. Love enables us to forgive totally and be free from the painful emotional ties that can hold us to them. Love is the language of our heart, it can laugh, cry, heal and chastise. Remember, out of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
What is it that followers of Jesus want to be heard saying? In a world that is unstable and where fear is rife, we have the ability to speak love to the wounded, the grieving, the scared, the lost, and the lonely. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us when we allow ourselves to be interrupted and encourage those that cross our path. We have the resources to feed the hungry and clothe the cold. But we have a more precious resource. We can truly love all who come across our path and reveal the love of Jesus to them.
A challenge for me and for you this month is to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 every day and see how it changes our perspectives.
Featured Photo by Marcel Ardivan
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