Today’s Blog post will explore the definition of the word Love.
The following is the definition of the word love found in the dictionary…
Definition of love
(Merriam-Webster)
1a(1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties maternal love for a child
(2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers After all these years, they are still very much in love.
(3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests love for his old schoolmates
b: an assurance of affection give her my love
2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion love of the sea
3a: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration baseball was his first love
b(1): a beloved person : DARLING —often used as a term of endearment
(2)British —used as an informal term of address
4a: unselfish loyal and benevolent (see BENEVOLENT sense 1a) concern for the good of another: such as
(1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind
(2): brotherly concern for others
b: a person’s adoration of God
5: a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love
6: an amorous episode : LOVE AFFAIR
7: the sexual embrace : COPULATION
8: a score of zero (as in tennis)
Now lets take a look at how the Bible defines Love..
1 Corinthians 13
New International Version
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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 do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 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 the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a 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.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend. (John 15:13 NIV)
So, I chose to embrace the Biblical definition of the word love. What a friend we have in Jesus!
