Recently I received an email that asked the question “What is Love?”. The answers were from a group of children ages four to six years old. Their minds amazed me. Some of the answers were funny, “Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of fried chicken” or “Love is when mommy sees daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Some though were truly insightful, “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.” “You really shouldn’t say I love you unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
In today’s society we tend to throw the “L” word, love, around very casually. By this world’s definition, love is an emotion. It’s a feeling that can change from minute to minute or moment to moment. The perception of love in the media is the goo-goo gaa-gaa feeling you get when you see that person. It’s the butterflies in your stomach, harps playing in the background, the constant thoughts and the hoping they might call so you can just hear their voice. Have you ever been in love emotionally? The world’s emotional definition is not love, but lust.
Love is something completely different. My perception of love is more parallel to the Bible’s definition and it is made clear that love is not an emotion, but rather a decision. The decision to love has to be made in both good and bad times. By biblical standards there are certain attributes of love. Love is patience and suffers long. We tend to think that we can only love when it feels good. But true love is proven in the difficult times. The time when you can hurt and still show love. When you can patiently wait, while you are suffering, for God to work out your loved one’s issue.
Love is kind and know no boundries. It does not envy, boast and is not proud. Love is not mean, jealous or prideful. The ideas of “he does it because he loves me” or “her jealousy just shows that she cares” are absurd. That’s insecurity and not love....