[301 words]
We’re told that love is “what makes the world go ‘round.” An old song suggests, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” And the Bible has been promoting the same message for centuries now: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself . . . let us love one another.” (Leviticus 19:18; 1 John 4:7).
But just what is love? How would you define it?
Much of modern music and media equates love with sexual gratification. Love is portrayed as primarily hormonal.
Many people think of love as an emotion, a feeling, over which they have little or no control. They see love as something to “fall into” and, hence, to “fall out of’ with the change of whim or the passing of time.
To confuse matters further, consider this definition of love framed by the First International Conference of Love and Attraction: “The cognitive-affective state characterized by intrusive and obsessive fantasizing concerning reciprocity of amorant feeling by the object of amorance.”
Now that should settle the question once and for all.
But, seriously, for a healthful dose of reality, observe the Bible’s description: “Love waits patiently. Love is kind, is not jealous. Love does not boast, is not puffed up, is not rude, is not selfish, is not irritable, holds no grudges, does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth; throws a cloak of silence over what is displeasing in another person, believe all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 12:4,7, McCord.)
Yes, according to heaven’s wisdom, love is something I can control, something I can work on, something I can grow at! Love is more than, higher than, raging hormones or ever-changing emotions. Love is a decision—a decision to put the well-being of another ahead of my own pursuits.
Dalton Key
Church of Christ
Tulsa, OK