What is Love?

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” - C.S. Lewis

Love has so many definitions. So many people think they understand love. So many people believe they know the key to love. I'm no expert but through the past 22 years of my life i think God has given me at least a taste if not a clear picture of what it is. One of the best definitions the Bible gives about love is 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

"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. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 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 perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

It is important to read all that for a full realization of what it is but the bolded parts I believe are the most important.

Well, the Bible defines it pretty well there but i guess i'll go ahead and give my personal take on what love is. At it's very core, love is sacrifice. Love is putting the needs of someone else before your own. Love is making a choice even when you know that there will be suffering for you and other person because you know it's what needs to be done no matter how much it hurts. Love is taking them for who they are but also being bold enough to speak to weaknesses and to invest in their life. Love is taking the smallest wishes and dreams and doing all you can to make them a reality. Sometimes with nothing in return. Love is not making a promise we can't keep. Real love is loving expecting nothing in return. None of us will be this. To love this greatly is I believe out of reach. The only person that can give us this love is Christ and that is why He is our Lord and Savior.

The greatest Biblical parable of Love is the story of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32) The son showed the greatest level of disrespect to his father. He asked for his inheritance before his father had even died. He then went and lived a life of complete debauchery. He "squandered his wealth in wild living." Despite all that when he returned he didn't get a normal welcome from his father when he returned. His father didn't say "well son, you left, took a lot of my money, so i'll need some time to see if i can trust you." His father welcomed him with open arms! He threw him a party! He killed the fattened calf! He thought nothing of his past or where he'd been but celebrated that his son had returned! That is love. That is the love Christ has given to use as a gift. I celebrate and joy in that great love.

Love is a beautiful, intricate thing. I hope i can love with even an ounce of what God has shown me. God is good. His love endures forever. Praise him.