Choosing Love

That four-letter word. Love. Lightly and frequently used today. We "love" everything from pizza, to our favorite clothing brands, to a certain someone. For many, the word has casually become a conversational closer. It's thrown around in our vocabulary as fish in Seattle's Pike Place Market. The media world permeates our society with its broad definition of love. From Everybody Loves Raymond, I Love Lucy, Love Actually, or Elvis' Love Me Tender, the word is used to encapsulate our emotions.  

But is love the feeling painted by Hollywood OR is it a choice of commitment and self-sacrifice? Webster's leaves it as "an intense feeling or deep affection" but could it be something far more? What's the deal? What is love? Paul defines love as an action which is "patient, kind...always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails." (I Corinthians 13:4, 7-8) Always. Consistency. A bit different than the world's portrayal, huh? Are you [am I] actually prepared to "love"?

Interestingly, the Scriptures identify love as much by what it is not, as much as what it is. It does not "envy, it does not boast, it isn't proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps NO record of wrongs...does not delight in evil." (I Corinthians 13:4-6) Such actions are not controlled by our emotions, but by a choice. A choice to submit to the Spirit of God. The chaos, frustration, and stress of life will push us to our emotional limits, but are we choosing to "love one another as Christ has loved us"? (John 13:34) This is NOT a natural response.

Love exposes us. Makes our life vulnerable for the sake of another, and at times, requires our life. C.S. Lewis may have said it best. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." Love hurts. But love is also the ultimate gift we can give another, for in it, we experience freedom. Freedom to model Christ. Freedom to know Christ. Freedom to know ourselves in a way we never knew existed. Love frees.

Jesus taught, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) The apostle John reiterated, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (I John 3:16) Perhaps saying, "I love you" is actually a statement of sacrifice and self-denial. Not a license to lust, but a call of commitment. 

So before you unleash that four-letter word, pause. It's a choice.