Love

What is love?  This question has many different answers, for there are many different kinds of love.  Love is one of those things that is exceptionally powerful, and yet very dangerous.  Used correctly, love can change lives for the better.  It can bring people closer and make people stronger.  Used incorrectly, however, it can bring pain.  Here is a look at different kinds of love.  This is not meant to be technical and comprehensive, but practical and applicable.

The greatest form of love is the one that can only come from one source: God.  The love that God has for us is beyond our own comprehension.  It is greater than any love we could give out ourselves.  The unconditional love of God is the reason us Christ followers live how we live and do what we do.  We have based our life on this love, following it with all our heart, despite the fact that we do not fully understand it.

The greatest love we ourselves can give out should, in fact, not be for each other, but for God.  Everything we do should be in devotion to Him, not to each other.  God is our creator, our Father, and our savior, and what He has done for us far outweighs anything that another human could ever do for us.  There should be no question as to who is atop our love list.

There is no question that the human in this world that I love the most is my wife.  When we make the marriage commitment, we are devoting ourselves to our spouse.  Good marriages are built upon many things, including love.  Such love does many things.  It makes me place more importance on my wife and her happiness than I do on myself and my own happiness.  It creates an environment of unity and absolute trust.  In our marriage, there is an absolute trust in each other.  We know that neither of us will be unfaithful, and neither of us wants to be, or would ever consider being, unfaithful.  Such love means that we work out our differences in a respectful way.  It means we tolerate each other's faults and shortcomings.  The best marriages are not simply a legal union, but they are sacred institutions, blessed and made holy by God.

While I have not experienced this in my life, the love one has for their children is a very sacrificial love.  Parents work hard in their occupation and at home to provide for their children.  Having a child changes everything that happens in the home, and the best of parents do not see such changes as a burden.  They see such changes as what needs to happen to give the child everything they need.  They do what they must because they love their children, and they would do anything in the world for them.  This love compels parents to give their children all the opportunities they could hope for in their life.

There are, of course, many other groups of people we have love for.  This includes our parents and family, and close friends.  These people are an essential part of our lives, and we have great love for them.  However, God does not say to simply love those people close to you, but to love your neighbors.  And your enemies.  So this is something I try to do: love everyone, even people I've never met before.  Everyone else is in the same predicament I am: they are sinners, separated from God.  The same salvation, the same love, that is available to me, is available to them.  The same God made them, and the same God sent Jesus to die for them.  They are no better or worse than I am, for we are all broken.  So why would I withhold love from any of them?  Do I believe them unworthy?  If they are unworthy of love from me, then I am ever more so unworthy of the love of God.

The last form of love I'm going to discuss here is car love.  That's right, car love.  This concept covers not just cars, but anything made in and limited to this physical world.  The truth is this: I love my car.  It's my favorite possession.  It's great fun to drive, and even though I've owned it for nearly four years, I still get excited by the fact that I get to own such a vehicle.  I love my car very much.  That being said, it's car love.  Car love is having very positive feelings toward something of this world, yet placing the proper weight on it.  I love my car, yet would I put more value on my car than I would another person?  Would I die for my car?  Would I become depressed and think my life was over if my car burst into flames?  Of course not.  People who live in such ways do not have car love, they have an obsession, an idol in their life.  A car is just a car, and while I have great car love for my car, car love is weak and meaningless compared to any of the other loves discussed here.  A car can be replaced, as can a house, or a boat, or anything else made by the hands of humans.

Love is a very powerful thing, but when used incorrectly, it can bring pain to our lives.  Taking the love meant for marriage and applying it elsewhere leads to adultery, cohabitation, and divorce.  Loving any human more than you love God puts that person on a pedastal, at a high place where only God should be; it is a form of idolatry.

In closing, whoever you are, I love you.  I really do, and, more importantly, God loves you too.