Doris Parramore Tyler
Love is one of those things that is just permeated in nuance. Being as subjective as it is, no two people are likely to define “Love” in the same way. Though I imagine that most would describe love as a feeling or an emotion, but experience has taught me something quite different and unexpected.
That warm fuzzy feeling that most people call love is pretty ambiguous. It comes and it goes, it burns and it wanes, often for no specific reason. I have learned that “Love” is not a feeling, but a very intentional act of our will.
This is how it is possible for people to remain married for 50 plus years. I can guarantee that warm fuzzy feelings are not what has kept them together through the years, but pure commitment and determination. You make a commitment that you are going to love through thick and thin, good and bad, better and worse, and then you commit to continue to do just that.
God’s Word has, what is in my opinion, the best description of what love is and is not, and what love does and does not do. Found in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love” is explained in the most simple, yet most profound description I’ve ever seen.
It says that “Love” :
- Suffers Long
- Is Kind
- Does Not envy
- Does Not Boast Itself
- Is Not Puffed Up
- Does Not Behave Itself Unseemly
- Does Not Seek It’s Own
- Is Not Easily Provoked
- Thinks No Evil
- Does Not Rejoice In Iniquity
- It Rejoices In The Truth
- It Bears All Things
- It Believes All Things
- It Hopes In All Things
- It Endures All Things
- And, It Never Fails.
So when dealing with our spouses, children, friends, and even strangers, we need to look to our creator who gives us an example of unconditional love. We remember that He loved us while we were yet still sinners, and He gave His life for us. [Romans 5:8]
As imperfect humans we are not capable of this kind of love on our own. We must look to God’s Holy Spirit to be filled with His perfect love, so that we don’t come up empty when those around us are less than perfect. We must put on “Love”, which is the bond of perfectness [Colossians 3:14] and remember that “Love” covers a multitude of sins [1 Peter 4:8].
