We live in a culture where people are quicker to get into bed with someon than tell them ?I love you.? Sad.
But it makes sense. Sex is cheap and feels good. Love (by which I mean true love) is always sacrificial. It always means putting someone else above yourself. I will get back to sex eventually (and that will be a mature post?) but for now I want to deal with the positive side of the coin: what is love? How has our culture messed up this word? And how to we redeem passionate, sacrificial, christ-like love?
Love is not a feeling
That would make marriage very hard. I don?t know about you, but my feelings change all the time. If you look up love in a dictionary or somewhere you?ll get something like this:
love, n.
- affection, but more ?profound?
- a feeling? of affection (???)
- sex sex sex
- the person you love
- love, as in ?I loooooovvvvve the Dark Knight Rises?
No wonder our culture is so reluctant to say the four letter l- word ? it has no meaning. It?s just a cluster of different things that kinda feel?the same. But still? there?s something wrong with America when TV characters are more likely to say that they looooovvve a movie than that they love the person they?re sleeping with.
The Bible says a lot about love
Here are some excerpts that helped me deal with how very wrong American culture got it and how beautiful biblical love is:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7: ?Love is patient,?love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,?it is not easily angered,?it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil?but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.?
John 15:13: ?Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.?
Romans 13:8 ?Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.?
Ephesians 5:1-2 ?Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us??
1 John 4:8,15,16 ?Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ??We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ? This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.?
Ephesians 5:25 ?Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.?
I think it?s clear that biblical love is
- sacrificial,
- others-centered,
- life-giving,
and it?s not a feeling!
The better definition of love
A lot of Christians define love using the the?three greek words for love. The problem for me is that the love for a friend, the love for family, and the love of a spouse are all fundamentally the same thing ? they are shadows of the love God has for us.
So I think there?s a better, unifying definition of love. It look me a long time to come to this, but once I did, it made this word a million times less scary:
Love is a deep?commitment?to someone else?s good ? even above your own. It is putting what someone else needs over what you?want.
And by deep?commitment?I don?t just mean ?oh yeah, I love the homeless guy sitting on the street and I think that I should do what?s best for him.? It means that deep down in your heart you truly want what?s best for this person. That?s why love has been confused with a feeling; because it?s not something just in your brain.
As my quick bible study above indicates, love means that you would lay down your?life for someone. If there?s even a second?s hesitation about taking the bullet for her, you?re not in love.
Top 5 myths about love? busted
Now that we?ve defined our terms, it?s hopefully obvious that:
- Love is not a feeling or emotion. Feelings don?t hold marriages together.
- Just because you love someone doesn?t mean you?re going to marry them. If God hasn?t give y?all the same calling, then it is best to let the find someone who can make their dreams come true. Along that same note, if dating interferes with your partner?s relationship with the Lord, the loving thing to do is to break it off. Crazy, right? That?s love.
- You choose to love, you don?t ?fall? into love.
- True love has nothing to do with the person you love, it?s about your commitment. Read Hosea.
- The idea of soulmates is a dumb. Maybe more on this later?
Now for feedback. Good definition of love? Bad definition? Did I miss something? And isn?t Brandon Heath just awesome?
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Filed under: Love & Relationships Tagged: | love, relationships, religion, sex
Source: http://brianfactor.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/relationships-3-0-what-is-love/
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