What is Love?

The concept of love is one that is highly confused in the minds of many today. The word is used so often, yet people can mean so many things when they use it. You find the word in songs, in discussions, in religions. But what, exactly, is the Christian meaning of love?

One way love is used today is to mean lust. Love is a biological desire for another person. When taken as only a biological desire, people use love as an excuse to physically use another person. However, Christianity is not about using another person. In fact, Christ’s message is quite the opposite. Love is used in many contexts in the Bible where the definition of physically desiring another does make sense. So this cannot be the love of Christianity.

Another definition of love that is promoted a lot today is being nice to someone. That is, making that person happy. Do not do anything to upset another, or hurt another person’s feelings, or to make that person feel uncomfortable. This, too, cannot be the love of Christianity. Jesus had no trouble with upsetting people, condemning the actions of many. He was not afraid to speak out against what was popular in society, calling people to repent.

So what, then, is Christian love? The best way to find out is to look to the cross. According to John’s Gospel, God loved the world so much that he gave His Son, who died for us. Love involves sacrifice. In fact, the Bible states that there is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for his friend. So love, true love, is giving one’s self to another, offering one’s self completely for the other’s good. I must emphasize here, love does not call us to give of ourselves for the other’s pleasure, but for the other’s good.

For this reason, in living a Christian life, we must love others by speaking up when they are doing something wrong, something that is harmful to themselves and others. However, we are also called to care for a person, no matter what he or she has done. We must recognize the human dignity of that person, and help that person to recognize his or her own dignity. And we must live our lives respecting this dignity. If we love someone, we must avoid using him or her. We must treat that person with respect, and with the honor that he or she deserves.

We must do what we can to take actions to help relieve others burdens, to care for others when they are sick, to comfort them when they are alone. We must let go of our selfishness, even though the process will most likely be gradual. We must listen, and give them the best advice we can, to help them towards our ultimate goal as Christians, that is, ultimate happiness in heaven with Christ. This is what it means to love. Can you accept the challenge?