What is love? Do you fall into it and out of it? If you think that, you do not understand it or know the basics of relationships.

Relationships will work best when we have this thinking.

The heart of a relationship is to know others for who they are and still value, accept, and love them.

That establishes energy in you for a real relationship. Accept people for who they are. It is not your job to change them; that is God’s job. God asks that you relate to others as He relates to you. He values, accepts, and loves you as you are, not how you were or will be – as you are now. That is what is difficult to understand, especially the love part.

But the question still lingers: what is love?

Love Requires a Clear Definition 

If you desire to practice the quote above, the word that most likely will be difficult to define is “love.” And when you say you “love” someone, what are you saying?

God's Word provides “…all things that pertain to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3), so reading God's Word about love would make sense. Before reading the verses below, think about a relationship you have that is experiencing some problems. Read the following verses slowly and reflect on that relationship.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. – 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Would That Help Your Relationship?

Would those things help your relationship? Why aren't these things in your relationships?  If you have been in church long, you have likely heard and read this passage many times. But biblical knowledge does not mean that it is applied to your life. And you cannot do this when your definition of love is more about ME than others. It is so typical to talk about love, but not act according to God’s description of it.

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. – Jonathan Swift

A clear head and a deep understanding are of no value without a benevolent and charitable heart. – Matthew Henry

It is time to start doing things God’s way to answer the question, what is love?

Listen to hear what we believe is a simple definition of love as God speaks about it.