Love...

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 KJV
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

One of the most devalued word today is the word 'love'. We now find people who are meeting each other for the first time and there's a strong physical, erotic attraction. The act of sex between them is called 'making love'. People with no plans to marry and settle down responsibly use ,'love' as a smokescreen to mask deceit. There are many instances where love has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, misrepresented and misapplied.
How then can we best understand love? Is it an act or a state of being? Is it best understood as something you do, something you see, something you receive or something that is abstract.
A careful examination of the love chapter-: 1 Corinthians 13 will show that love encapsulates a lot of these features. It is a state of being, it is an act that can be seen and felt, it is an emotion that can be expressed and reciprocated. It has a source and a target audience.
When the Bible talks about love, God is a personality not too far away. Love can never be understood outside of God and anything we may express for our fellow man must be founded upon our understanding of who God is and what his terms of love are. If someone is the embodiment of love itself, it then means that anything that is to be called love must follow his example.
It does not start with sacrificing a lot for your fellow man; it is not a question of giving all you have to the poor. The proper starting point is KNOWING the source of love himsef and having him. Then all the acts of love can make sense and make impact. Most times, we seek fulfilment in these acts, trying to find peace of mind outside of God. That's why you find many rich men still constipated, angry and unfulfilled, even after giving so much to the poor. The foundation is important- the knowledge of Love himself, then the act of love can make sense.
Check your stand- do you know Love? Are you seeking fulfillment in the wrong places? Do you even know who to seek for? If you find yourself seeking to command love from others, or trying to win their love by doing 'great works', then it is a wrong understanding of true love. True love frees you to be yourself and give your best without judging you. Find true love, find freedom. Find God, find freedom. His time of favour is here.