Love is the silken cord that binds hearts together. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. (Song of Solomon 8:7) Love is strong as death...(Song of Solomon 8:6)
Beautiful and poetic language has often been used to describe love but what exactly is love ? To know positively what love is, is to be able to distinctly identify what it is not.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT LOVE IS
Is love a feeling, a sentiment or an emotion ? Is it all of these ? Some people honestly don't know. A very devotional Christian author once wrote that "love is an active principle."
She wrote also that..."True love is a high and holy principle." True love is not merely a sentiment or an emotion. It is a living principle, a principle that is manifest in action." This idea of love being a principle is also taught in the Bible.
Love a principle ???
So what is a principle ?
A principle is a rule of behavior that a person chooses to live by. Love is basically a principle ( a rule of behavior that a person chooses to live by) Although feelings, sentiments and emotions are associated with love, because they seem so real to our senses, these are not love in the truest sense of the word. Love is the result of a choice made by a person. Where should we have any reasonable expectations of seeing this principle practiced ?
In the heart renewed by divine grace, love is the ruling principle of action. It is the principle that rules in a converted heart; it is the behavior of choice for every true follower of Christ.
Love is a heavenly attribute. The natural heart cannot originate it. In spite of all the love songs and love stories that have ever been written about human love, the truth of the matter is that real, true, pure love does not have its origin in the human heart. Human love and the principle of genuine love described in the Bible are not the same thing.
When the Bible speaks of love being strong as death it could certainly be speaking of human love but not divine love. Divine love is not as strong as death. Divine love is STRONGER THAN DEATH. After a person dies and is buried, he or she cannot continue to experience any human feelings of love but the divine principle of love which may have been seen in that person's character can actually live on in the hearts of others who were touched by that individual....
But if love is a principle, how will we be able to recognize this love ? By what quality or quantity of words and actions shall we know this love ?
LOVE DOES GOOD AND NOTHING BUT GOOD
How can you know whether you are being loved or being loving ? If someone is doing good to you and nothing but good, that person is loving you. If you do good to others and nothing but good, you are loving them.
God requires that love for Him is to be expressed in doing good. Notice how this thought is stated in one of the oldest books in the world..."But I say unto you, LOVE your enemies, bless them that curse you, DO GOOD to them that hate you...That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: Matthew 5:44,45
"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. Proverbs 25:21
There are many who spend their entire lives trying to find happiness. Real happiness is found only in being good and doing good. This is exactly what love consists of. Love does good and nothing but good and it makes a person happy.
The pleasure of doing good to others imparts a glow to the feelings which flashes through the nerves, quickens the circulation of the blood, and induces mental and physical health. Good health is necessary for the enjoyment of life.
© 2009 Tyrone Keels
www.issues-of-life.com
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