The Fruit of the Spirit - Love

What is Love?

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible says,

“Love. First and last word in Christian theology and ethics. It is therefore important to understand clearly this exceedingly ambiguous term.”

A popular song of the era says, “What is love? Oh, baby, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me no more.”

It seems that secular society has a very low standard in regard to what love is.

I did a Google search with the words, “Love is...” and the first thing that popped up was a link to a television show called “Love is Blind,” a Netflix reality show that promotes itself as a social experiment where single men and women look for love and get engaged, all before meeting in person.

I looked on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary under the word love, and it lists the following definitions:

Love (noun) -

strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties

maternal love for a child

attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers

After all these years, they are still in love.

an assurance of affection

Give her my love.

the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration

baseball was his first love

unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: such as

the fatherly concern of God for humankind

brotherly concern for others

a person’s adoration of God

Love (verb) -

to hold dear: cherish

to feel a lover’s passion, devotion, or tenderness for

caress

to like or desire actively: take pleasure in

Our culture has lots of ideas about love. We are told that “Love is love” and we’re instructed to “Live and Let Love.”

We are asked a lot of questions about love in popular culture.