Love

I remember listening to a lecturer one day ask the question, "How would you define LOVE?" Throughout history, so much has been written about love; and so many have pondered upon it. We know that it is much more than just emotions and feelings; but, how would we really define it? 1 Corinthians 13 offers a Biblical description of characteristics of love; and how it is lived out in life (i.e. patient, kind, etc). Yet, when I contemplate a more succinct way of defining something as complex as love, I would consider John 15:13 as the best illustration: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." I would define love as being willing to sacrifice for that person, even to the point of death. In the last few weeks, I finished reading some very famous love stories: Romeo and Juliet, Phantom of the Opera, and Lady Miriam. In each story, we can see that true love indeed was willing to sacrifice everything, even life itself, for the object of their affection. And, of course, in the greatest love story ever told, "God so loved that world that He gave His Only Son"; and Jesus Christ loved us so much that He willingly lay down His life for us on the cross.