What is love?

Contrary to the title, today's blog has absolutely nothing to do with the comedic movie "A Night At The Roxbury", and the theme song from the movie sharing the title of my blog. I would, however, like to share a little insight that I have gained into love, and not in a Dear Abbey sort of way. I will start by quoting 1 Corinthians 13, one of the better known passages of scripture.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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 in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

These are truly great words, full of power and conviction. I have heard this passage used to describe how we are to love our family, our friends, our boyfriend/girlfriend, and husband/wife. It is also a description of God's great love for us. But there is one category of people left out from our common interpretations of this passage. How many times have you heard this passage used as an example of how we are to treat our enemies, or those people who just rub us the wrong way? Lately I have been examining this passage in my devotions, and this is the realization that hit me.

Up until recently, whenever I would read this passage, it would make me feel good about myself, as I used it as kind of a check list to determine whether I was demonstrating love in my life. As I would check off the items one by one, it would fuel my pride as a Christian, making me feel somewhat superior. But when I read it in the light of how we are to treat our enemies, all of this false confidence came crashing down. Let me explain. You see, I feel that I have always been fairly good at loving those who will love me back, which is only natural. I personally do not really have any enemies per se, but there are people, or have been people, especially at work, that get on my nerves for various reasons. I had always told myself that I showed love to them simply because I treated them slightly better than everyone else did, but I have come to realize that this just isn't good enough. While I may not have said or did anything directly to their face, when the everyone else would slander them or gossip about them, I am sorry to say that I jumped right in without hesitation, even though in my heart I knew it to be wrong. Jesus says, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:46-48) These are some pretty strong words, yet ones that I know without a doubt to be true. We are called to be so much more than the world's standard of "goodness". We are called to treat our enemies as if they were our best friend, and by doing so, more than likely they will cease to be our enemies. Paul says that if we do not have love, no matter how much good we may do, in the end it all amounts to "jack squat!" (to quote Matt Foley, motivational speaker) We may share the gospel, but if our actions do not back up the words that come out of our mouths, what power is there?

This is something that has really convicted me as of late, and something that, with God's help, I am trying to improve upon. I know that I will fail time and time again, but I know that God won't give up on me. Well, that's all I've got for now. Have a good one!