Thought for the Day - Love is...more than just emotion

Love. Such a familiar topic, one I have spoken about many times. We all would say we want it, we give it and we are thankful for it.

We sing about it, we perhaps even think we understand it. And yet, love remains one of life’s great mysteries. It’s one of the few things that multiplies the more we give it away.

placeholder image — "We sing about it, we perhaps even think we understand it. And yet, love remains one of life’s great mysteries."

When I try to define love, one song comes to mind: “First, I get cold, then hot, Think I’m on fire, but I’m not… Look what I’m going through, it must be love” (It Must be Love-Don Williams, 1978). Rather raw and emotional, and yet my wife still loves when I sing it to her. But real love is more than just emotion.

The dictionary offers this: “Love is choosing to care for someone deeply, even when it is hard. It is not just a feeling, it is a choice and shown through honesty, kindness, patience, loyalty and putting the other first.”

Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 takes us deeper: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

Then he puts love into action: “Love suffers long and is kind… rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Real love doesn’t give up when things get tough, it stays, it serves. Love gives more than it expects to receive.

Ruth as daughter-in-law to Naomi lived that kind of love. They lived life together until Naomi’s husband died, her sons died and there was no future to look forward to.

But Ruth loved her mother-in-law and proclaimed: “Where you go, I will go, your God will be my God.” And so, they moved together back to Bethlehem and started a new life.

Ruth walked through the hard times with patience and kindness, providing for Naomi’s needs in a time of need. Ruth didn’t just mouth the words, she lived love towards Naomi. She could have stayed in her own hometown, but love asked and offered more.

Ephesians reminds us that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. That is and should be a model for how Christian people should love also.

Here’s the question: Do we live love or just say words?

Rev Jon Bergen is pastor of Seeley Lake Baptist Church in Montana, USA.