Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

LOVE DEFINED

April 16, 2009

 "What's love got to do with it?" lamented Tina Turner. "What's love but a second hand emotion?" Tina was right on, at least in part. But there's more to it, love, that is.

 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
- 1 John 3:16-18 TNIV
Yes, love is an emotion, yet even Tina Turner knows to say "love" is much less about how we feel, and much more what we do! John tells us that love is so much more than feeling, but an act. It matters little if we "feel" like love, and but act in an un-loving manner. Jesus demonstrated his love in his sacrificial act.

Love defined: Christ laid down his life for us. Feelings come and go. Love is a verb, an expensive verb at that. It requires of us. John's words and implication leap from the words of this passage: Go and do likewise.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson