Love is ill-defined. It's not easy to pin down. But something inside most people tells them that love has something very central to do with the meaning of life. People near death regret their self-centered pursuits in life and wish they had spent more time with family. Even violent criminals who reject all decent human relationship are grasping at a feeling of power to fill the void left by the power of love in their hearts. Having power over people can feel deceptively similar to being loved by them. Little kids are the most telling, however. Just watch one of those little rug rats for 10 minutes... yep, we were made for love.
Does the Bible agree with this gut feeling or not? According to the Bible, the answer to the questions of what is most important, what you were created for, and what God wants is the same - love. There's a hitch, though. This can mean completely different things depending on one's definition of love. To one, it removes all sexual boundaries. To another, it means spending the rest of her chaste life in Calcutta relieving the suffering of the lowest outcasts. What exactly is love?
The Bible doesn't give a hard and fast definition of love. Instead, it points to the cross of Jesus Christ and says, "Look at that - that's what love is." (my paraphrase) In another passage, it lists the behaviors and attributes of love so we know how to recognize it in ourselves and others. That makes it pretty easy to pick out the fakes and enemies, but it doesn't proscribe a formula.
The Scriptures also assert love's unique place among personal traits by saying that it's possible to have every single other positive trait and still not have love (1 Corinthians 13.) That's unsettling - because of both the ambiguity and the purity. So, I ask again, what is love? (Cue Haddaway... sorry, I couldn't resist! Ok, enough jokes.)
To make an analogy: love is less like Maxwell's equations than it is like a juicy apple. You can't know it until you taste it! And, it necessarily involved pleasure. Here's another key from our passage in 1 Corinthians 13, which contrasts love with knowledge. "Love never ends... as for knowledge, it will pass away... So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." When you pass into the next the life, it won't matter how much you know.
One final distinction remains to be made. Whom should be loved first? Pay close attention to Jesus' prioritization in the following passage. Everything depends on it.
Does the Bible agree with this gut feeling or not? According to the Bible, the answer to the questions of what is most important, what you were created for, and what God wants is the same - love. There's a hitch, though. This can mean completely different things depending on one's definition of love. To one, it removes all sexual boundaries. To another, it means spending the rest of her chaste life in Calcutta relieving the suffering of the lowest outcasts. What exactly is love?
The Bible doesn't give a hard and fast definition of love. Instead, it points to the cross of Jesus Christ and says, "Look at that - that's what love is." (my paraphrase) In another passage, it lists the behaviors and attributes of love so we know how to recognize it in ourselves and others. That makes it pretty easy to pick out the fakes and enemies, but it doesn't proscribe a formula.
The Scriptures also assert love's unique place among personal traits by saying that it's possible to have every single other positive trait and still not have love (1 Corinthians 13.) That's unsettling - because of both the ambiguity and the purity. So, I ask again, what is love? (Cue Haddaway... sorry, I couldn't resist! Ok, enough jokes.)
To make an analogy: love is less like Maxwell's equations than it is like a juicy apple. You can't know it until you taste it! And, it necessarily involved pleasure. Here's another key from our passage in 1 Corinthians 13, which contrasts love with knowledge. "Love never ends... as for knowledge, it will pass away... So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." When you pass into the next the life, it won't matter how much you know.
One final distinction remains to be made. Whom should be loved first? Pay close attention to Jesus' prioritization in the following passage. Everything depends on it.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” -Matthew 22:34-40If you don't know God, this is your confirmation that the meaning of your life does indeed center on love - your love being given to God first! The Bible says He is jealous, and His eyes are like a flame of fire. Run to Him and get consumed by love and truth. Follow Jesus.
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