What Is Love?
Love can be both a noun and a verb. We say, "He is my love!" or "She is my love!" There, we are using it as a noun. Or we say, "I love him!" or "I love her!" Now we are using it as a verb. But what is love? It probably gets defined most frequently for us in popular songs. Paul McCartney wrote, "You'd think that people would've had enough of silly love songs," ("Silly Love Songs", Paul McCartney and Wings), but apparently not. They are still written and sung every day. So we hear frequently about all the aspects of love.
But how well do we actually know and understand love in its truest sense? And how well do we actually recognise it when we see it in its truest form? And when we do see it, recognize it, and understand it in its highest form, how willing are we to adopt that kind of love into our own lives?
Paul writes this in Romans:
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 6-8).
God demonstrates His own love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What did that actually look like? Matthew spells it out for us, very graphically.
"They came to a place called Golgotha (which means the Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!"
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him." (Matt 27: 33-44).
There's more.
"From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?---which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit." (Matt 27: 45-50).
Paul tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Out of love. What sort of love is that?! Do we actually know any love like that?!
Issac Watts wrote the hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (1707). The third stanza says:
"See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did ever such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?"
Incredible love! Self-sacrificial love! Love like we've never seen. Christ, Himself, said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 13). How do I respond to love like that?! The fourth stanza of Watts' hymn says this:
"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
It were a present far to small;
Love, so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.