So Many Questions
If I were to ask you to define, “Love,” how would you define it? What would be the basis of your conclusion? Is it simply an emotion, subject to the interpretation of the one experiencing this “Love?” Or, is it an action, one that elicits and expects a response from someone else? If that is the case, then is it conditional – dependent upon such response, and if so, what is the deciding factor, the basis, for the structure of this Love? Would it be how it makes the giver feel, or the recipient? Who decides? Does true Love even exist, or is it only a figment of our imagination, wishful thinking, as it were?
I believe Love is all of these things, and yet, true Love is none of these things.
Love’s Origin
In order to define Love, we should determine the origin and the source of Love. According to the Holy Bible, the Book of Genesis, chapter 1, “In the Beginning” God created all things (wouldn’t that include Love?) and according to the Book of 1John, chapter 8, verses 4 and 16, God IS Love (emphasis mine). If we are to take the Bible literally, and I do, then further research is needed to determine the definition. If God is Love, then Love is God. Therefore, Love can be defined by the character of God Himself.
What Kind of Love is This?
In the Bible, there are several words translated into our English word, “Love.” However, the New Testament, written in Greek, uses different Greek words for different types of Love: “storgi,” which means affection, like the love one would have for his pet; “eros,” where we get our English word, “erotic,” is a physical, or sexual love; and “phileo,” as in, “Philadelphia,” which is a brotherly love – a do unto others as you want them to do for you kind of love. These types of love look for and depend upon a favorable response in order to be activated. It is love that is given with the expectation of being loved in return. But, true Love, the purest Love, is a Greek word, “agape.” This is true Love, the purest Love, unconditional Love, the Love described as God’s Love, and only comes from one source, God Himself. This is demonstrated in the Bible, in the reality that we have a huge problem, and yet, because of God’s Love, He has provided the solution. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And in Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own Love (agape) toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” John 3:16 says, “God so Loved (agape) the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In other words, Jesus Christ died in place of those who sinned, and our problem is, we have all sinned, and deserve death. His solution? Christ died in our place, for those God Loved, not for those who loved God. He died because He is Love, because He Loved the world so much, He gave… not received. If you want to see what Love looks like, study the life of Jesus in the Gospels – the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but especially the Book of John.
Can I Truly Love?
So, if God alone is capable of pure Love, where does that leave us? Can we Love like God, or with God’s Love? Absolutely. We not only can, we are commanded to, if we say we know God. “Beloved, let us Love one another, for Love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not Love does not know God, for God is Love. In this the Love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is Love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1John 4:7-10.) How does this happen? “Now hope does not disappoint, because the Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:5-6) Did you catch that? “The Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” because of what Christ has done. We must only receive the gift of God, which is eternal life through Christ our Lord, and then receive the gift of His Love poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
My Definition
So, my definition of Love would be, that there certainly are different types of love, but true Love, the purest of Love, is an action, and comes from God Himself, as is defined in His Holy Scriptures: “Love suffers long and is kind; Love does not envy; Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1Corinthians 13:4-8a) Definitely an action word, not just an emotion or wishful thinking. Because God is Love, God’s Love is perfect, and God never fails, then Love never fails! If God is Love, and Love is God, you can test that by putting “Jesus” – God’s Son, His Perfect Representation of Himself – in place of “Love” in this Scripture. To test myself, to see if I am truly loving as He loves, I need only to put my own name in those verses above, do a heart-check, a reality-check, then pray that, as stated in Romans 5, His Love would abound more and more in my heart, that I may demonstrate God to others, because God is Love, and true Love, God’s Love, never fails.
Conclusion
Love never fails – but I will. God knows our frame is but dust, God knows we will never be perfect this side of Heaven, God knows that we cannot and will not always Love as we should. But – should that stop us from pressing forward, always taking steps to that end – to Love as He Loves? Of course not. But be encouraged, although we fail, the very fact that God’s Love does not fail gives us hope. It is there to catch us when we fall, to encourage us when we fail, by forgiving us when that’s the last thing we deserve. Perhaps we should start there – by learning to choose to forgive, not only others but ourselves, when we fall short of perfection. In that very act, we will be exercising the Agape – the undeserved Love that God extends to us.