What is love? Is it being loyal, completely committed to somebody, willing to die for them? Is it merely a matter of somebody’s commitment to one another? Or is it something different, something deeper. Jesus died for our sins, and “loved” us no matter who we were, unconditional love. Agape love. What is agape love? Is it stupidity? 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. It is not rude or self seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrong. Love rejoices in the truth.
With it, we can do anything, without it we are nothing.
Ever since i began to think about life, I never understood what the purpose of love is. It seems stupid and inefficient. Why would somebody keep no record of wrong? Then, we are simply setting our lives of for disappointment as the person commits the same wrongdoing once more. Why hope? Why hope for the best when you know the worst is coming and your hope will be shot down. Why be honest? Honesty only gets people in trouble because the world is not a friendly place. These are the thoughts that have been with me my entire lifetime. Even when i first began believing in Jesus, I thought, God, I believe in you. But making humanity makes no sense because you humanity is a failure. Why would you sacrifice some of your perfection for utter shit? What did we do to deserve it?
I wondered what the difference between love and an addiction was. Many people I see are addicted, whether it be to video games, looks, facebook, anything. Do they love facebook? I am sure that they are committed to facebook. They probably never forget about it and always return to it. For my example, i will use facebook. What makes an addiction to facebook any different from love. I feel that many people would say that the difference is that they wouldnt give their lives to save facebook but they would give their life to save a person or something they love. However, i find it contradictory that they are in the process of giving their lives to facebook by spending so much of their time and life on it. So i wonder what makes love so much better? And, if love was out there, why was it so hard to find? Why was it so much easier to find a computer than to find out what love means? And more personally, why couldnt i love?
I had been loved by my mother, father, step father, and step mother. I couldnt have asked for better parents. It isnt like my childhood is messed up which scarred me for life making me incapable of love.
So i still come to the question of what is love. I guess there are two things that we consider love, genuine love and lust. the obvious difference is that lust is for personal gain while love is for somebody else gain. And, that is the only difference that matters. Every action that we make can be determined an action out of love or out of lust. If i were to donate money to the poor, it could be because I care for the poor, love them, and hope that they may be able to live with a little less hardship. Or, it could be because i want to feel good about myself and make others think that I am a good person. I could confront somebody because I see that they need to change in order to be a better person. Or, i could confront them because I am really pissed that they continually mess with me. Love is outward, lust is inward.
And yet i wonder if humans are capable of love. We say we love Jesus, but do we love him? Or, do we lust him because we know that we need him.
Can we love God? Righteous men in the bible are not described as God-lovers, but God-fearing. However, the greatest commandment is to love the lord your god with all your heart, soul, and might.
