Love is a powerful emotion. It is something everyone desires but not everyone understands how to give love, how to show love, or how to receive love. Love means to have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward another. Some have found their soul mate and best friend, and together they have known the meaning of a true and lasting relationship of the heart. Others have enjoyed a close connection with family or friends. And then there are those who are still looking and still waiting.

Love is a very important idea for Christians. Jesus taught that the greatest commandments were to love God and to love our neighbors. He said that those two commandments summed up all the commandments that God gave to Moses. In the same way, people like Paul and John wrote how love should be a major part of every Christian’s life. Because it is such an important idea to understand, it is helpful to see what the Bible tells us about love.

A healthy definition of love is crucial to understanding the central message of the Bible. According to the Bible, love is not confined to sexuality, nor is it primarily a feeling at all. The Bible teaches that love is a commitment. As a commitment, love is not dependent on good feelings, but rather on a consistent and courageous decision to extend oneself for the well-being of another. That commitment then produces good feelings, not the other way around. Jesus became the perfect demonstration of God’s unconditional love for us by laying down His life for our benefit.

Of all the Greek words used to describe love, eros, which means sexual love, does not occur in the New Testament. The Greek word, Phileo, which means natural affection, occurs twenty-five times, and philadelphia, which is used to describe brotherly love, occurs five times. Storge, a Greek word used to describe natural affection between relatives, also appears occasionally. By far the most frequent Greek word for love used in the New Testament is agape. Agape refers to moral goodwill that comes from respect, principle, or duty rather than attraction. Agape specifically means to love the undeserving, despite disappointment and rejection. Agape is especially appropriate for divine love.

The love Jesus taught carries its own obligations. People who want to practice Christian love may love God and love others in the same way God does (Matthew 5:44-48). The first and greatest commandment in God’s law is “You shall love the Lord your God. . . . And a second is like it; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus shows that a “neighbor” is anyone near enough to help, and love involved whatever service that neighbor’s situation demanded. And in Jesus’ life, we learn that love heals, teaches, defends people who are despised, grants forgiveness, and comforts people in pain. We are to love others as He has loved us. This type of love does good works without expecting anything in return, never returns evil with evil, and practices thoughtful understanding that tempers judgment.

To Jesus, the worst type of sin was the refusal to love. This included the refusal to do good, ignoring destitute people at one’s own gate, and withholding forgiveness. Lovelessness was made worse by self-righteousness and ignoring other people’s distress in order to preserve a petty ritual or regulation. In the end, Jesus said that obedience to the law of love will determine each person’s eternal destiny (Matthew 25:31-46).

I am old enough to have seen love expressed in many forms. I have seen love mishandled, abused, and abandoned ... by those inside of church as well as those outside of church. Many people talk about love but far fewer people truly practice the love God requires. How sad for us all.

I am committed to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am committed to keeping His commandments. I am looking and waiting to find another with the same commitment.