Tina Tuner sang a song year ago entitled “What’s Love Got To So With It”, what’s love but a second hand emotion. She went onto say that love is an old fashioned notion. Obviously Tina had been hurt, Ike did a job on her. At that time, Tina had not had an encounter from true love, God’s love. You see, God’s love created the world, His love divided the water, His Love flung the moon and the stars into the universe and said stay there and they did. Love breathed life into us, love sustains life, love is the very foundation of our existence .
The question put on the table today is what is love, really? Let’s see if I can answer that question by first saying what love is not. Love is more than that ooey gooey feeling that we get when Mr. tall dark and handsome or short light and round (we all have a preference) walks into our life. You see in the beginning, we can’t get enough of them, we can’t keep our eyes or our hands off of them, But when that honey ain’t so sweet no more and that moon get’s a little dim, those ooey gooey feelings subside and the realities of life and love begin to kick it.
Love is a choice. truly loving someone cannot be merely superficial because with time and a baby or two, that outer beauty rearranges a bit. But true love extends past what the eye can see and penetrates the heart and connects with the soul. Choosing to love someone with your heart and soul takes sacrifice and maturity. Love is not selfish and marriage is not for selfish people. Love is not a give and a take but rather love is a give-give. There are no takes in love, there are no selfish motives in love because true love always puts the other person first – without neglecting yourself of course. When we choose to love, we choose to grow because love expands, love evolves, love never remains the same.
Our model for what loving should look like is found in God’s word which teaches that true love is commitment. The God-kind of love accepts their loved one right where they are, faults an all, while at the same time taking those faults and issues to the throne room. Please understand that our love will be tested it’s not if we are tested but when we are tested, but even in the when, we win when we model ourselves after the very epitome of love. Remember 1 Corinthians 13:7 – Loves never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.