What is
Love??
love- websters definition
1 a (1) : strong
affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (maternal
love for a child) (2) : attraction based on sexual desire :
affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on
admiration, benevolence, or common interests (love for his old
schoolmates) b : an assurance of love (give her my
love)
2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
(love of the sea)
3 a : the object of attachment,
devotion, or admiration(baseball was his first love) b (1)
: a beloved person : DARLING -- often used as a term of endearment
(2) British -- used as an informal term of address
4 a :
unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) :
the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for
others b : a person's adoration of God
websters
thesaurus-Text: 1 a
feeling of strong or constant regard for and dedication to someone (her
love for her children was truly selfless)
Synonyms affection,
attachment, devotedness, devotion, fondness, passion
love- Jesus's definition- "greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends", John 15:13
love- what
does it mean to you?
love- Georgia- "it's confusing, it is something inside your heart
when you have feelings for someone else"
love- Brooke "agape, unconditional, honesty,
accepting"
love- April "passion for the unloveable"
love- Beau "unfailing kindness, burning desire to run up and hug
them,
love- Jim
"action, mercy, doing something for others without being paid back,
relationship,
love- Hannah
"really caring for someone"
love- Amy in Texas-"Love is a spirit
of self-sacrifice resulting in action." (answer that I learned at
church, best definition that I have heard.)
love- Neysha "I would say the
feeling when you hug someone and they melt into you and you never want to let
go"
love- Tanya in TX 'thinking of
others first'
love- Andrea in NY "is a
commitment."
love- Jamie "Love is
loving/serving even when you don't feel like it...being committed to the other,
putting them and their needs before your own..."
love- stephanie in
canada "love: when you care more about one thing than any others or any other
combination of others... singleminded unconditional positive regard
:)
love- Amy "Verb- 1.giving of oneself for another w/o
expecting anything in return. 2.a process that
evolves relationships"
love- Amy "Noun- a name I
often use when speaking to someone I care about, in place of their name.
"
love-Jenny "Love=God (God is
love)."
love-Kelly "Love: a feeling,
a gift of being. Worship. Family. Goes hand in hand (usually)
with Happiness. hmmm.......*smile*
love- Tania Love is...so many
things, but I think I'll just say "putting someone else's needs before your
own."
love- AMY F. "WOW...what a
question.
Love is that moment when you look at your child and
absolutely cannot
wrap your mind around the fact that God gave this little
beauty to
you. You just want to eat him. :O) They catch
you starring at the
and say, "Whatcha looking at?" and all you can say
is, "I LUV YOU."
Then they tell you that you are weird or to take a
picture because it
would last long and so on and so forth.
The only way
to define love in all of it's different facets...GOD IS
LOVE."
love-
Sharne, Kay, and
others quoted from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "Love is
patient, love is kind ,it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud it
is not rude, it i snot self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails."
love- Denise "I'll borrow from the
more colorful Greek language. Greek has 5 more
specific words in the place
of our more multi-purpose word "love."
agape: "I choose to do what's best for
you no matter what." The kind of
love with which
God loves us.
phileo: brotherly love.
storge: just belong together. The
"old shoe" kind of love.
eros: romance between a man and a
woman.
epithumia: the kind of love enjoyed by a married couple behind closed
doors." then when again asked to put into her own words "
I've been thinking those definitions for 17 years, they've *become* my
definitions.I love God.
I love my 13 month old
daughter, asleep on my chest right now, slightly sweaty.
I *really* love
chocolate.
I love The Math Worksheet Site ( www.themathworksheetsite.com )and
firmly believe the promise and vision God gave me concerning it.
What
does love mean? It depends on the object loved. The English word is
too
broad, is used in too many differing situations.
Probably a definition could
be: a great fondness for something. The
intensity or the *value* of the
fondness may be different depending on
the object loved (ie. God vs.
chocolate vs. dogs)."
So, LOVE, what does it mean
to you??
Many times when we think of Love, we think
of the descriptions. I know I myself had to put away descriptions to define
exactly what it is. What is it to you? I think what I get is "sacrifice" . Not
myself as much as what is loved. And yet often it is our own selfishness that is
loved. And I think that is the key, you have true love for something when all of
a sudden you are out of the way. You can't truly love your children until you
are done loving yourself too much. And that kind of love only comes from
understanding the love Jesus has for us. Now there are many mothers without
Jesus love who appear to love their children before themselves and don't get me
wrong they don't know any better. But what they are really doing is still
serving themselves. That is human nature, carnal nature, so I am not faulting
them. they are doing what they know how to do. But there is a better way, the
eternal way. Our efforts here on this earth that are done out of a "good heart"
will stay on this earth because the bible says that "the heart of man (or woman)
is wicked above all things" (Jeremiah 17:5). So we must raise up to
a standard of doing things from His heart (Jesus') if we want them to count
eternally. Let me give you an example. A 5 yr old child is at a birthday party,
and there is chocolate cake being served. The child is serverly allergic to
chocolate, it can cause dangerous even life threatening reaction at times. The
child begins to ask the mother for some cake. She can do one of two things. She
can risk the childs life by giving in, thus saving her own life by not causing
the heartache she will feel by denying the child. Or she can deny herself and
her own feelings by doing the right thing and saying no to the child, who may
possibly throw a fit making her look bad, and welcome all kinds of ridicule from
friends and family for being such a "mean mommy". What would you do? Jesus
said that if we try to save our lives we will lose them but if lose our lives for Him we will save them, paraphrased Matthew 16:25. Which of the example reactions would
have been the right one if we are thinking eternity rather than temporary? What
would be real love? What would be true love, putting someone else before
yourself? To deny the child of course. Not only would that be right and safe for
the moment but it would teach the child lessons that would carry him into
eternity. Lessons that would play important parts in not only the child's
salvation but also in others he would come in contact with during his lifetime.
I speak from experience. One of our children was extremely hyper as a young
child. This child would get easily over stimulated by too much sugar, processed
foods, large crowds or an unstructured schedule. So even though those things
didn't affect the rest of the members of our family we changed a lot of things.
Even when we had company over I would stick to what I knew was best for this
child. And you know what? I was persecuted!! OH boy was I persecuted! But I knew
what the Lord had answered in all those hours of prayer, I knew what His word
said. I was called a "mean mommy" and then some, by people I love. But I love my
child with all my heart and I knew early on that the Lord had plans for this
child. So I denied myself and did what was right but hard. Even though Jim and I
were united even he gave me a hard time sometimes. So, how is this child today?
I leave out the child's name for a reason, (to make you guess who it is, gives
you more faith for your own situation) but this child is now nearly grown,
hardworking, responsible, focused, extremely intelligent, and mightily used by
the Lord on a regular basis. True love has eternal consequences. It lasts
through generations. The Father has true love for us, and yes He disciplines
those whom He loves, I am blessed to be His child. True love is not giving in
for the moment, it is for the long haul. Eternity.
