Whats Love Got To Do With It?

Here are some random quotes regarding love:

"Love is a feeling directed at someone which acknowledges their goodness."- Dr. John Gray

"The willful intent to serve the well being of another."

"To describe love is very difficult, for the same reason that words cannot fully describe the flavor of an orange. You have to taste the fruit to know its flavor. So with love."- Paramahansa Yogananda

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those you care for to be what they choose for themselves, without any insistence that they satisfy you."- Leo Buscaglia

"When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't Love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still Love you, they Love you even more."- Matthew - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."- Mary Ann - age 4

"Logic says everything in this world has a cause and an effect. True Love is the only feeling which is its own cause and its own effect. It is something illogical and yet above all logic. I Love her because I Love her, and I Love her so I Love her."- Prateek Kumar Singh

"I was nauseous and tingly all over. . . I was either in Love or I had smallpox."- Woody Allen

"Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love."- St. Bernard 1090-1153, French Theologian and Reformer

"Can't Buy Me Love!"- The Beatles

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."- 1 Corinthians 13:5-7

Here are some verses in the Bible that describe love:


1. Love is a commandment. (John 13:34)
2. Love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. (Rom 5:5)
3. Love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom 13:10)
4. Love is the catalyst that gives meaning to speaking in tongues, to prophesying, to understanding, to faith, to charitable works, and to self-sacrifice. (1 Cor 13:1-3)
5. Love is kind. (1 Cor 13:4)
6. Love is greater than faith. (1 Cor 13:13)
7. Love is greater than hope. (1 Cor 13:13)
8. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22)
9. Love is the bond of perfectness. (Col 3:14)
10. Love is of God. (1 John 4:7)
11. Love is living according to God's commandments. (2 John 6)

Here are nine things that love does:

1. Love suffers long. (1 Cor 13:4)
2. Love rejoices in truth. (1 Cor 13:6)
3. Love bears all things. (1 Cor 13:7)
4. Love believes all things. (1 Cor 13:7)
5. Love hopes all things. (1 Cor 13:7)
6. Love endures all things. (1 Cor 13:7)
7. Love abides now. (1 Cor 13:13)
8. Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Pet 4:8)
9. Perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)

My Two Cents (as of present):
If God is Love, then when we search for what love is, we should be searching for who God is.
So then, what is the nature of love? We know that God is love and that he is the ultimate source of all love. So what about God's character can shine some light on how love works?

One Way Love

I have always wondered if true love could ever be "true" if only one person in a relationship actually loved the other. Then upon studying my favorite piece of scripture, 1 Corinthians 13:5-7, I realized that a one sided love is possible because love "is not self-seeking". Love doesn’t expect anything in return, and therefore true love can be a one sided street.

So where does that leave us? Are we to love everyone, even if they don’t love us back? Loving takes a lot of energy, especially in a one sided relationship where love is not being returned. These one sided love relationships are draining because we do not get something back to help keep our "stock" up. Sometimes we eventually get to the point where we have no love left to give.

I know that this whole loving on a one way street thing is hard and draining, but just like a miner after he sells all of his gold in town goes back out to the mine, we too must return to loves source. GOD IS LOVE. God promises that if we go to him he will provide. He will pour into us enough love so that we can continue on in loving others.

Love: The Two Way Street Type

Ok, so we've kind of talked a bit about "one sided" love. But the more trivial part for us here and now is relational love. We know that the best relationship between a father and son, or a mother and daughter, or a man and a woman in marriage etc. is a mutual love. Two way love is freakin sweet and it shows. Two people can get through anything when they have two way true love (twtl) going on. In fact, if there were more married couples in the world today who had "twtl", then I bet you that the divorce rates would be significantly lower then they are now.

And that is what we are all looking for isn't it… our own TWTL. But how do we find it? Or, how do we even know if we have found it? It’s a trivial process that I'll try and figure out another day when I am not sick and laying in bed. But it is a process that we all go through. Well ok, I lied just earlier when I said I wasn’t going to try and figure this out…cause now I have my own interest. It will be quick, and probably not revolutionary, but I will say it anyway. And I'll do it the best way I know how… using an analogy…

The Love Artist

When an artist paints on a canvas he does so using certain brush strokes, colours, paint types, and brushes. Each painting could be created uniquely, one could be of a flower using water colours and a large brush, and the next of a city street corner using oil based paint and a smaller more detailed brush. These two paintings may look very different from each other, but there will be certain simularities. There will be simulartities because despite the different styles of the paintings, they were created by the same artist. If one was well aquainted with the artist and his or her style, one would most likely be able to pick out which paintings were painted by this particular artist.

Why are there so many similar things in our world? Most animals breath oxygen, have two eyes, some sort of nose or nasal cavity. Plants seem to need sugar and sunlight to survive no matter what species they are. Everything biological needs water to survive, no matter what it is. I could go on with all the things that science has discovered about this world that show us how everything is so closely related. I believe that everything is so similar because it was all created by the same artist. God's handprints are all over the place and we can see his same "artistic" style through out all creation, man, beast, or vegetation. Anyways, my point is that the art of a artist reveals some qualities about him/her that are constant.Take music for another example. Listen to every single U2 album that has ever been released. There are a lot of simularities between their albums. And that is the same with Coldpay, Creed, Metallica, Rush, Queen, or any other band. They may be different songs on different albums, but for the most part a U2 song is a U2 song, and a Metallica song is a Metallica song…you know what I mean. Each artist has their own style that transcends all of their music. And people that like U2 or that like Rush, like them because of that style. And when they go out to look for music they take the style (or styles) that they like and listen to music until they find something that fits that style and then they buy it.

Ok, let me kind of tie this all together here. What I have been trying to say (more or less) is that any artist has a style that goes beyond any one work and that people who know this style will recognize it. God is no different, he too has a style. And if the term "God is Love" isn't atleast a partial definition of His style then I don’t know what would be. My last point was that people who appreciate a certain style will recognize it and if they see a pattern of it (like in the music of a certain band) they will subscribe to that band.I

n conclusion I would like to say this about love. God is love. Therefore if you honestly and wholeheartedly love God and pursue His will for your life, then others (like that special someone that you may be looking for ;) who are wanting the same thing, such as true love, will recognize "God's style" in your life. Because God is your artist, and if you let his style shine through then others who are after Gods style will be attracted to you.

So instead of always being focused on finding your true love…(sometimes so focused that you go crazy)… focus on who you are in Christ…because eventually, if it is meant to be, your true love will recognize Christ living in you and then the rest will be history.

PS - May God bless you in your journey to find true love…cause you'll need it ;)- Jordan

One day I would really like to write a book or two, or do a PhD. on love. Because if God is love, then I believe that the more we learn about love, the more we discover about our creator and vise versa. It is a huge concept and one that most people largely misunderstand. I would love to let God reveal to me His love and what it means to Him!