Fruit of the Spirit: Love

"All you need is love, all you need is love love, love is all you need." The Beatles were totally right. We all need love. It is someting we crave for but we don't know where to get it. That's why most of us have superficial understanding of what love is. We often define love as an emotion when we feel the chemistry and the spark towards another person. Or we also definde love as blind because we don't "see" the other person. Sometimes, we say that we love someone because we need them to supplicate us with our needs. Also, we define love as "you complete me."

The question now is, what really is love? We were taught that there are categories of love such as: phileo - friendship, eros - passionate or romantic, storge - affection or parental kind of love and agape - unconditional love. We have different arguments on how to define love but the Bible clearly states what it is. We don't need Merriam-Webster or Wiki to define it for us. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, it says:

"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. Love never fails."

I think it is clearly stated what love is. Bottom line is, whatever relationships that we have, if we truly love them, all these traits must manifest. For example, I like the part "love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth", because it shows that when we truly love someone, we will not tolerate the wrong things he/she has done but rather, we should correct him/her in love. Although they will get hurt but when we love, we just want the right things for them. The best example is Jesus Christ. If you look at the verse again, He actually did manifest all those traits. To the point that He died on the cross for all of us, to save us from our sins. "Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends." (John 15:12). Also, Jesus commanded us to love one another...not just those who are lovable but also those who are not.

Well, since love is again a virtue, it's easier said than done. And, it's sad to know that the true meaning of love is now deteriorating. Let's remind ourselves what true love is by looking at the cross. So that, when we are with people, we can also manifest the traits of true love.