"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 preserves." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
LOVE is a happy thing.
It makes us laugh,
It makes us sing,
It makes us sad,
It makes us cry,
It makes us seek the reason why,
It makes us take,
It makes us give,
but above all else, it makes us live! ~ Jayne Fisher
The American Heritage Dictionary defines love as "an intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties". Often this "intense affection" stems from a sexual attraction for that other person. We love other people, or we say we love other people, when we are attracted to them and when they make us feel good. Notice that a key phrase in the dictionary definition of love is the phrase "based on". This phrase implies that we love conditionally; in other words, we love someone because they fulfill a condition that we require before we can love them. How many times have you heard or said, "I love you because you are cute;" or "I love you because you take good care of me;" or "I love you because you are fun to be with"?
Our love is not only conditional, it is also mercurial. We love based on feelings and emotions that can change from one moment to the next. The divorce rate is extremely high in today's society because husbands and wives supposedly stop loving one another-or they "fall out of love". They may go through a rough patch in their marriage, and they no longer "feel" love for their spouse, so they call it quits. Evidently, their marriage vow of "till death do us part" means they can part at the death of their love for their spouse rather than at their physical death.
Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love? It seems the love that parents have for their children is as close to unconditional love as we can get without the help of God's love in our lives. We continue to love our children through good times and bad, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet the expectations we may have for them. We make a choice to love our children even when we consider them unlovable; our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them. This is similar to God's love for us, but as we shall see, God's love transcends the human definition of love to a point that is hard for us to comprehend.
The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). But how can we even begin to understand that truth? There are many passages in the Bible that give us God's definition of love
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) God defines love is in the act of giving. in John 3:16 we see that God gave his only begotten son, for a sinner like me. That which was lost was now found. He showed us love while we were still his enemy. (Romans 5:8)
In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you Willis; " nor does He say Willis, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me right now Willis." We find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners. We didn't have to get clean, and we didn't have to make any promises to God before we could experience His love. His love for us has always existed, and because of that, He did all the giving and sacrificing long before we were even aware that we needed His love.
God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God's love is unconditional, and it's not based on feelings or emotions
But wait, I hear men and women saying I don't feel like I'm in love with my spouse anymore, so is God tell me that love is not an feeling or an emotion? Is he tell us that love is the ability to give of yourself and not expect or demand anything in return? Wait a minute now we all know that if I want my wife to love me, she must first feel it right?
Wait so God actually expect us to love each other unconditionally? So what if my spouse does not tell me anymore that she loves me? What if I commit adultery, surely God can expect my wife to still love me? What about all those people in my past that hurt me, surely God can not expect me to love them, I've been hurt how can I love them with this pain in my heart and in my mind??? Because he loves after all we have done to him and continually doing to him. Cast all your anxiety on him because he loves you.
"Maybe you not sure about God's love for you, or it is really your not sure about your love for God?"
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. by: St. Augustine
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