Love is an ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

I've been revisiting the whole concept of love lately and what I came up with wasn't a ground-breaking discovery; rather, something of a personal revelation.  By now, most people have realized that love is more than just a word or a feeling.  But I contend that that infamous four-letter word is, in fact, an action verb.  Herein is my argument.

LOVE is probably the most over-used 4-letter word in the English language.  I love those shoes!; *ta-da-da-da-daaa* I'm luvin' it!; Can you feel the love?; I love you/him/her!!  So we're faced with a situation in which the strongest [human] emotion has been reduced to a mere cliche... a buzzword.  People throw it around without a second thought, ignorant to the weight of what they are wielding.  Don't believe me?  Just ask my homie, Jesus Christ.

The opportunity to have a personal relationship with God is a direct result of two distinct acts of love. The first one was committed by God Himself [as told in John 3:16]:  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (emphasis mine).  Next, the same Son given by God--Jesus Christ--enacted the greatest love of all [as told in John 15:13]: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  So both the Father and the Son took on the responsibility of expressing true love by performing the actions to back it up--surrendering the most important thing to each of them on behalf of others.

So the next time you use or hear the word love, think about how loaded it actually is.  Ponder how you would prove it.  Are you willing to die for the next person you say "I love you" to?  When someone else says they love you or something, ask them what they would give up to demonstrate that.  It's a legit question since they are openly making a claim of epic proportions (even if they are ignorant about it).

For Christians, the definition of love is provided in 1 Corinthians 13; this also serves as our instruction manual.  The Apostle Paul laid it out like this in verses 4 through 6:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

His wording treats love as a live being but, in my mind, that simply translates to the person who is putting the love into action.  For example: One who loves is patient. One who loves does not envy, boast or is not proud.  One who loves always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. The onus is put on the person who is taking up the responsibility to love by using the word.

I have always been wary of using 'the L-word'.  The first guy I fell in love with was warned in advance that under no circumstances would I tell him that I loved him until I was 110% sure!  If I knew then what I know now about what love truly means, I probably wouldn't have been able to say it at all.  Would I have taken a bullet for him?  When he told me he loved me, was he thinking of the sacrifices that it would require?  Ummm, methinks the answer is NO.  But, if you don't already, please consider the commitment that you are placing upon yourself when you use the word love... that is, only if you really mean it.

be blessed,
pVI