Wednesday Night Bible Study…
Asks the question, “What is Love?” in the quest to become all we can be for Christ. This is in response to the last verse of Paul’s Love Chapter…
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV)
Faith, we can understand. Yes, even hope. But what is love that it would rank the greatest of the three?
Paul begins his chapter with this observation.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJV)
Notice his conclusion. Be the best, know the most, and understand all mysteries of the world… But without love I am nothing. He clarifies the lack of love by these three statements.
- Without Love – I have BECOME a sounding brass or clanging cymbal.
- Without Love – I AM nothing.
- Without Love – I am NOT profiting.
I will never become, nor am I there now, and nothing I do will profit. This is what the lack of love does for me. I’m just not the best of who I can be.
Think about it for a while. What is love to you?
According to Google, this was the most sought after answer in 2012. “What is love…” One article attempted to answer this question from 5 different sources.
- The physicist: ‘Love is chemistry’ – it is simply a neurological condition.
- The psychotherapist: ‘Love has many guises’ – and you need to understand the various definition of the words that mean love.
- The philosopher: ‘Love is a passionate commitment’ – elusive in part because love is not just one thing.
- The romantic novelist: ‘Love drives all great stories’ and it depends where you are in relation to it.
- The nun: ‘Love is free yet binds us’ – it is more easily experienced than defined.
As I search for the answer away from scripture, I find that everyone seems to dance around the subject – but no one seems to give a definitive answer. We like to think we comprehend the word based upon our actions, but when you think about the definitions mentioned above – how can you comprehend a true definition of love?
Poets and singers seem to chance a definition of love, but consider these lyrics from Tina Turner and tell me that she understands love any better?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
What’s love but a second hand emotion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken
This is something we need to think about, and reflect on, and find a good answer to the question – What is Love?
So… John Denver attempts to sing an answer to this very question.
“Perhaps Love”
Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble when you are most alone
the memory of love will bring you home
Perhaps love is like a window, perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer, it wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself and don’t know what to do
the memory of love will see you through
Oh, love to some is like a cloud, to some as strong as steel
For some a way of living, for some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on and some say letting go
And some say love is everything and some say they don’t know
Perhaps love is like the ocean, full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it’s cold outside or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever and all my dreams come true,
My memories of love will be of you