This thing called Love...

The world over, love is something that has been so severely misunderstood, misconstrued and abused. For many, love is often equated with attraction, lust or a desire to be with someone. Because of this fact,some have entered into relationships based on how good or excited they feel about a person. Such liaisons are purely based on attraction. Sadly, for those who get into such relationships, nothing seems to remain after the attraction, feelings of euphoria and the imaginary "butterflies in the tummy" fade away. The end result is that the relationship eventually falls apart. For others, love is confused with lust, which is nothing but physical or sexual desire for someone else. And once lust is acted upon, there is nothing left to keep the relationship going. All these perversions of love are simply the tricks of the devil and his plan to keep as many people as possible from experiencing what true love is.

One might then be led to ask: what is love? Well, because i am a Christian...i tend to look to the word of God for answers to all of life's questions on different issues. This is simply because God's word is truth. Of course there are quite a number of bible verses which talk about love and after meditating on several of them, i came to my own understanding that:

1. You cannot truly love someone else if you don't love yourself and you cannot love yourself if you don't first love God. Love flows from God because God is love and love is God. The love you receive from God enables you love another human being.
2. Love is not an emotion or feeling. Real love transcends emotions. For instance, if you love someone, you'll always do your best to please him/her, even when you don't feel good about it.
3. Love is acceptance. When you truly love, you accept someone for who they are. You don't judge them based on their past, weaknesses or mistakes. Neither do you try to mold them into who you think they ought to be. But if the person loves you in return, he/she will naturally try to work on areas in their life that aren't so praiseworthy.
4. Love isn't love until it is expressed through actions. It is not enough to say the words, you have to prove love by the things you do. Even God proved His love for us by sending His son Jesus to the cross. John 3:16
5. Love is sacrifice. A sacrifice always involves you emptying of yourself in some way. When you love someone, you will inconvenience yourself for their sake without thinking twice.
6. Love sees uniqueness, not weakness. Love understands that no two people can have the same attitude and personalities. Love appreciates and celebrates the differences in these areas.
7. Love sees what is hidden to the rest of the world. If you love someone, you can almost sense how they're feeling without the person having to say anything.
8. Love respects. Yes! Whether male or female, if you love someone, you'll show them a great deal of respect in all ramifications. You respect their ideals, values and even their personal space.
9. Love always gives. If you love, you must give of yourself, and your time when the need arises. Love gives without being asked.
10. Love is friendship. Real love is genuine, committed & loyal friendship between two people. In fact, friendship is the foundation that keeps love intact. A true friend will always be there, even when it hurts to do so. As the bible states, "greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for a friend." See John 15:13.

I urge you to take a close look at the scriptures in 1Corinthians 3:4-7 where Paul gives God's definition of love. It will give you an even clearer picture of what love entails.

This is the first of many posts I'll be doing on the subject matter. My ernest hope and prayer is that more people get to enjoy a lifelong love relationship with that one special person. This is what God purposed for us from the very beginning.