What is Love?

The dictionary defines love as a noun: an intense feeling of deep affection or great interest and pleasure in something. It is also defined as a verb: to feel deep affection or like or enjoy something very much.

These definitions make it sound rather easy to understand. But love is not that simple. Our world has confused love with greed, security, and sex. We say love things, songs, actors, movies, and books. We love our things. But love is not a thing. Love is people.

I Cor 13:4-8 tells us that love is patient and kind; does not envy or boast; is not arrogant or rude; it doesn’t demand; it isn’t resentful or irritable; it doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing, but rather in truth. Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things; Love never ends.

In today’s world, we jump into love without all the facts and knowledge. And when love gets difficult, which it will, love ends. And if love ends, it wasn’t love to begin with.  We forget love bears all things. We forget love does not rejoice in wrongdoings and isn’t arrogant. The world tells us we have to be right, so then love must be wrong. The world tells us love envies and is jealous. The world says love is demanding and arrogant. But this is not love, not True Love.

Love, True Love, left a throne and came to earth to live life as the son of a carpenter. Left a life of power and authority for a life of rejection and accusation. Left a life of peace for a life of temptation and hatred. Hatred so intense that it sought to kill this Love. A Love so true that He gave His life, His very life for even the ones that hated Him. Gave His life so that they might see and believe, truly believe, that He was the True Love, the Light of the World. That all might believe. And this True Love not only shed His blood and died but while on the cross, took on Himself the sins of the whole world. For the first and only time, His Father turned His back on Him, and even the sun stopped shining and the whole world was dark.

But even death could not extinguish this Love. And on the 3rd day, this Love, the Light of the World returned, arising to life anew.

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe.  This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save: Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied – For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.” (Stuart Townend)

This Is Love!!