A friend of mine recently made a passing remark that went something like:
“Love is whatever it means to that person”
It was just a fleeting comment, made in response to some exasperation that kids as young as twelve were talking about the “love of their lives” and that people so young couldn’t really understand love. It didn’t pick up much conversation at the time, but it did get me thinking...
God’s Word says that He is love (1 John 4:8) and we all know that God is, well, MASSIVE. There are so many different aspects to Him that it’s certainly true there must be many different aspects to love and many different ways of showing love and expressing love.
There are, however, also many misconceptions and mistaken ideas about what love is, what it should feel like and how it should be demonstrated, that fall far short of God’s ideal. What love means to someone with such misconceptions is surely not a love to advocate and strive for?
The Word also explains that love remains after all and that love is the greatest of all things (1 Corinthians 13:13). Would it not be heartless to allow someone with a worldly, physical, materialistic view of love to continue believing that what they feel is the greatest thing of all? How disappointing! What hope is there when you believe something that fades and breaks and steals to be the greatest thing of all?
On the other hand, we are all human and imperfect ... what do we understand about love? How can we teach others about something that is too great for us ourselves to comprehend?
All that we can do is to share the source of our own hope and love – and to trust the Spirit that has begun a good work in us to infuse our words and actions with the same life that drew us to Him.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. Love never fails."
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