I ask myself, "What is love?"
Many thoughts have provoked this question, and I turned to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for inspiration:
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (ESV)
God is love, so this definition of love shows a fraction of God's character to us; however, it is not just applicable to God only. We can apply this idea to how we love each other and ourselves. Couples say "I love you" or "Love you, too, babe" all the time, and I sometimes wonder about their basis of saying it. Here's a scenario: the campus dance is coming up, and a friend asks you to be their "date" for the dance. You agree to go, and the two of you make plans for before, during, and after the dance. The afternoon before the dance, your friend says: 1) "Hey, I decided not to go because I have a ton of homework that I shouldn't put off," or 2) "I know I asked you to go, but someone else asked me and I felt really bad for them, so I decided to go with them instead." This person is your friend, but they changed the plan that the two of you had come up with together, and you made drastic changes to your schedule that week in order to make it to the dance.
Most people would be something above furious or distraught, but you love them. Not in the previously mentioned sense of the word, but in the Christian definition. Being angry at your friend for any reason does not show the love described in 1 Corinthians. In addition to the scenario, just think about all the times you went back on a promise or skipped out on plans with a friend or group of friends, all for your own gain, be it justified or not. Hypocrisy has never been anything but taboo throughout history.
Unconditional love is one of the rarest aspects of life that can be found, next to unquestioning faith and purity in relationships. If one of our goals as Christians is to become more Christ-like, then the love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is a great place to start our journey.
What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comment section below.
Most people would be something above furious or distraught, but you love them. Not in the previously mentioned sense of the word, but in the Christian definition. Being angry at your friend for any reason does not show the love described in 1 Corinthians. In addition to the scenario, just think about all the times you went back on a promise or skipped out on plans with a friend or group of friends, all for your own gain, be it justified or not. Hypocrisy has never been anything but taboo throughout history.
Unconditional love is one of the rarest aspects of life that can be found, next to unquestioning faith and purity in relationships. If one of our goals as Christians is to become more Christ-like, then the love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is a great place to start our journey.
What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comment section below.
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