Love is...
Dear Ritsuka,
you ask, What IS love?
I mean,what exactly is love?
People get married,and divorced within 5 years on the average..
Didn't they love each other?
and say this....
I loved my friend,but she commited suicide cos she said she loved me, and didn't want to add onto my daily load of burdens..
Her death added more load than her life ever gave me
So, shall we look at love by looking at divorce, where two souls, after getting up out of the love-puddle that they fell into, begin quickly to look at themselves, at their position in this thing they call love, with the man strutting proudly around claiming, "I am in love!", and the woman delighting in the fact that she is loved, where they soon become alienated by their self absorbtion, looking to their own needs, rather than doting again upon each other as they did while in the besotted state of falling in love?
Or shall we look at love as from a suicidal end to life, where a person has become so engrossed in themselves to the point where they will even project their troubles upon another, seeking to end the misery that they have become enslaved to? (Please understand, Ritsuka, I am not judging your friend. I have known far too many who have suicided, I have carried them to their graves, and I have mourned their passing, and I have wondered if I could have been there for them more than I was... all too late to think about it though, and comforted countless grieving friends and relatives, becoming involved in government grief and trauma counseling... etc, etc, etc...)
So, what then is love?
We know that Jesus said that greater love hath no man than this... that He lay down his life for a friend.....
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
These things I command you, that ye love one another. John 15:9-17
We also know that Jesus died for the sins of the world... Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 so, is that what love is?
Let us look at what is involved in laying down our lives....
Jesus dying on the cross was only the finale of His giving of Himself, and this is where you will find a clue as to what the answer is.... you see, Jesus died because of love, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Many agree that this tells us how important it is to believe.... and it is crucial, no doubt about it. However, what are we believing, that He died? What of the love? Let us look more at that love, that giving love, and let us believe in God's love, because God is love, and it is in His constant love toward us that we have our hope, we have our comfort and strength, and when we consider the magnitude of His giving , of His sacrifice, we see that it began way before the cross, and was poured out in the life of Jesus ...from day one of His life here....
He was born, not in a hospital, not in a comfortable and safe home, not even in a hotel... but in an animal car-park, a garage for anmals, amidst the stench of dung and animal sweat... maybe a few cockroaches and rats... even fleas and lice...(why not? It was extremely busy at the time, with people coming from near and far, using animals to travel, and being the evening, there the animals would be relieving themselves and sharing all their personal freeloaders like nits and mites, etc.....)
So.... OK, so what? Well, here's what love is.......
just Who was born that night? Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
1Chronicles 29:11
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Hebrews 2:9-10
Yes, this Jesus started in such a lowly place.... Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:6-8 For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:16-17
Can you see what abode He left to come here, how He began to give His life right from the start, not taking anything for Himself?
Straight away, He was forced to depart to a foreign land with His family, under threat of slaughter, seeking asylum as a refugee....
When He later returned and began His ministry, He immediately came under attack, from those He came to love... and He continued giving and loving, laying down His life, being harassed, ridiculed, hunted, rejected, mocked, betrayed... misunderstood and opposed.... and after getting a savage beating which would see the end of you and I, while hanging with gruesome nails through His healing, loving, feeding, forgiving, comforting, outstretched hands after having done so much for so many, with the horrific chant of, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!", still echoing in the minds of His killers and those round about... WATCHING! Him die... what did Jesus say?
Father..... forgive them.
What is love?
I pray you have become more familiar with Him and His love, Ritsuka, and I also pray that you find great comfort in perhaps the best explanation in the Bible, in all literature the world over from all times.....
it is the shortest verse in the Bible....
and I hope you see something of what love is in it...
from John 11:35....
Jesus wept
Bless you,
Br. Bear
