what is love?

1 Corinthians 13:5

Today I would like to think with you about love’s secret ingredient. Claim the words from 1 Corinthians with me. “Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous or boastful. It is not arrogant or rude. Love never insists on its way.” These are from one of the most famous chapters in the Bible. To Winston Churchill they were the greatest words ever written, and for so many people they are so important as we claim God’s promise that, properly handled, love never ends.


But I want you to listen to those words once again and notice something. “Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous or boastful. It is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its way.” Did you notice that love is defined not only by what it does, but also by what it does not do? In other words, love is never an excuse for our own personal agendas and ego needs. It does not allow our feelings, ungoverned by Christ, simply to flow out and roll rough-shod over someone else. Instead, love is governed by boundaries set by the God who gave us love in the first place. He gives us boundaries within which love is to be expressed, and according to the Bible, those boundaries are an integral part of the love.

That’s important to hear, because we live in a world telling us that love is strong feelings and the key to happiness is simply to let those strong feelings be freely expressed.

I grew up in the sixty’s singing All You Need is Love with the Beatles. That is the message our culture gives in a variety of different ways: simply go with whatever you feel most strongly about, and just let it freely flow all over, and you will have happiness and joy. For Christians, that can be a tempting image because we know that we are called to love everyone. God loved us before we loved Him and saved us when we were not worth the saving. That same God wants to love others through us. So, all of us who call Jesus “Lord” are called to love the unlovable with the love of God.

We have to be careful, though, how we interpret this call. Instead of love being a strong, free-flowing feeling that washes like the tide indiscriminately all over the place, let me give you a different image. It is from Revelation 22:15. This passage tells of the coming Kingdom of God, the heavenly city which shall descend upon and some day dwell on earth, a place filled with justice and peace, life and joy. In the heavenly city St. John saw, flowing from the throne of God, a river -- deep, pure, powerful and filled with the intensity of life. Everything it touched sprang to life and bore the fruit of life.

to be continued ......