What is love?

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. – 1 Corinthians 13:1

When someone tells you, “I love you,” what does that mean? Husbands, Paul instructed, are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25). He calls men to display a costly, sacrificial kind of love. Sadly, most men fall far short.

It is amazing how that short four-letter word can be defined in so many ways. I like what Eileen Guder pointed out “Only the loving,” she said, “will have any understanding of love – just as the good will understand goodness. When one has gotten only a little way into loving, one learns that what understanding we do attain, poor and partial as it must be, is not gotten to thinking about it. It comes by receiving and giving love, as part of the process of living.”

If you want to discover what love is about, learn how Jesus loved those whom He chose – 12 flawed, ordinary, somewhat unlovable men. Notice that His love was an unconditional commitment. There was absolutely no selfish, self-serving motive behind His love.

He love them “as they were” without forcing them to change or making change a condition for His acceptance. Paul makes a case for this truth in 1 Corinthians 13. Remember his words, “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” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6).

Without love in your life, you have nothing. Begin by letting God plant the seed of love in your heart. Ask Him to fill your heart with Himself so that His love touches you and so that you, in turn, can touch those in your life.

Used with permission from Guidelines Philippines, Inc. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, please write to Box 4000, 1280 Makati City, Philippines or e-mail address [email protected]. You may also visit our website at www.guidelines.org.