Love, love, love. I hear that word all the time. But what does it mean? What is love?
When I first moved to the United States, I was surprised about how often I heard people use the word love. According to my knowledge, that was a big word that was only reserved for people and said when you meant it. How could someone say “I love chocolate” and the next second turn and say “I love my mom”? I thought Americans were so careless with their words. Fast-forward ten years, here I am confessing my love for math and music. I am officially an American.
At the start of each year, people get excited, putting their new year’s resolutions together, ready to change their ways or try something new. I’ve done it before multiple times. But January 2017, I got tired of creating a list I knew I wouldn’t get far with. Instead I decided to commit to one thing: Love. My new year’s goal was to live love, share love, and be love. However, the question still stands, what is love?
When asked to define love, many are quick to quote 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 and 13, a popular passage at weddings. A TV show I was watching recently quoted Robert Frost and defined love as “an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” Other definitions include, “an intense feeling of deep affection”, “sexual passion or desire”, and even to some “a serious mental disease”, also known as lovesick. To live, share, and be love, I began to do my own digging on the term, the Bible being my main source.
The Greeks used four terms to define love. Philia, referring to friendship, Storge, kinship, Eros, sexual and romantic love, and Agape, divine love. My goal is based on agape love, but I’ll get to Philia and Eros in another blog. Agape love “is not kindled by the merit or worth of its object, but it originates in its own God given nature…[it] keeps on loving even when the loved one is unresponsive, unkind, unlovable, and unworthy. It is unconditional love” (McLean Bible). Such love reminds me of the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24).
In the past, whenever I heard that story, I’d think to myself, “I’d never do such a thing.” Until one day it dawned on me, I am the prodigal son. As a matter of fact, we all are the prodigal son. We are born into this world, in which God has given us so many riches and blessings. But born into sin, we get lost in the ways of the world, forgetting the source of our blessings. Yet God waits and watches eagerly for each us to return, ready to embrace us in the fullness of His love. Despite being unresponsive, unkind, unlovable, unworthy, He overshadows our sinfulness with His grace and love when we run to Him in repentance.
That’s the love I want to live, give, and be. The love of salvation that broke chains off me and set me free in my sin. The love that no matter how down I feel, gives me hope, comfort, and joy. The love that reminds me of God’s mercy each time I fall. The love that is for all, whether black or white, rich or poor, righteous or unrighteous, for it has no limit. I am not perfect in love, but God, who is love, is my source. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
Everyone longs for love, whether they know it or not. We were created to love, to care for the well-being of people around us, desiring what’s best for them. However, we seem to struggle to live and breathe agape love due to barriers that stand in our way. Barriers such as betrayal, hurt, failure, fear, mistrust, career, apathy, etc. Think about it, what are your barriers? What is it that stops you from living, sharing, and being love to your neighbors?
Great Verses About Love: Titus 3:4-5, 1 John 4:7, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:1-2, Psalm 145:8, John 3:16, John 15:12-13
