One of my favorite things to ask people is, what is love? It's shocking to hear just how far and apart the answers I get can be. I get people who start talking about chemicals in the brain, even those who quote Paul, but by far the most common reply I hear is, I don't know.
How can this be, that in a culture obsessed with strong language such as love and hate, we cannot even define these terms? We use these words so often that the meaning is all but lost.
This is exactly why I have (subconsciously) avoided writing solely about love, despite its centrality to the entire Gospel, despite it being who Jesus even is, because I fear that we have overused it so much that it means nothing. Or worse- it might even be annoying.
Recently when studying Paul's letters, which are saturated with vibrant, poetic lines about love, I found it difficult to read. Try as I might, it's a hard task to read the "love is patient, love is kind" passage with new and fresh eyes, because as a modern Western reader, the word love carries far less weight than it should.
So today I'm going to answer the question I always ask others, and hopefully, try to redefine it in such a way that the word means something again.
So, what is love?
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." -1 John 4:7–8
What a radical, breathtaking statement! I don't care how many times I hear it, that verse will never cease to absolutely astound me.
First- love is from God. This means that no matter how imperfect the way we love is, the love itself is from God. Just as it is that it is through Him we live and breathe and have our being, so it is true that through Him we are enabled to love. After all, the Spirit Himself is a Spirit of love.
Second- and this is where we get to the very heart of our question- God is love. It's so hard to comprehend that you can define the Creator of the universe, complex and incomprehensible Being He is, into a single word. It's even harder to comprehend how that word is a personal one, a kind one, a tender one- love. Our Father's love for us is so insanely deep because He is. There is no part of Him (no, not even His wrath) that doesn't come from love. Because His love for us doesn't just run deep, it's simply who He is.
If you want to know what love is, you must rephrase your question. It is not what but Who. If you want to know Who love is, look to Jesus of Nazareth, God in flesh, love in flesh, look to Him teaching and living, healing and redeeming, weeping and praying, bleeding and dying, rising and ascending. That is what love looks like. There is no ounce of love we can give that is not already given us from Christ, for He is love in its purest and fullest.
That brings us to our second verse, or rather, our two words (putting the entire verse would have distracted from my meaning. Please trust me in saying I am not taking the author's intention out of context).
"Pursue love..." - 1 Corinthians 14:1
Pursue love. The word "pursue" implicates that it is already in existence, it just has to be found. I have a theory that love is like the Law of the Conservation of Mass because like matter, love cannot be created or destroyed. Love simply is because God simply is, and you cannot have God without love, and you cannot have love without God, and God is eternal therefore love is eternal. Phew. That's a lot. Hope you get my meaning.
To pursue love, to reword what I stated above, is to pursue Jesus Himself. The way we define love as a culture today is completely turned around when we look to Him. I don't think anyone anticipated that love would take the shape of a crucified Messiah, that blood poured out and a Savior on a cross, our Passover lamb and perfect sacrifice, would be the very image of love, yet so it is.
The moment we try to pursue love, we will find that Love is already pursuing us all the more, that He always has been and always will be. The love Christ has for us does not depend on our feelings, our awareness of His presence, or our actions. It is completely unchanging, for He cannot love you less than He already does or any more, because love is who He is.
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