Love, Love, Baby

Well we have begun a short journey through 1 Corinthians, and at the risk of sounding all mushy - give me some love, baby!  It's all about the love!  But love is such an overused word in today's language.  You know that, I know, it's not a big surprise.  We love pizza, we love movies, we love stuff.  But true love is nothing like that.  Let's check the dictionary for the official meaning of love:  there are several definitions, and they almost all use the word, "affection."  (Check dictionary.com for reference.)

Do you think this is the kind of love that God is talking about here?  A tenderness, affection, a feeling?  I have to be honest, I don't think true love has anything to do with these things, because feelings, affection, even tenderness, are all based on me.  On how I feel at any given moment. 

So how are we to know the true meaning of love, the way God intends?  First, let's contrast the hope and joy found in the love chapter with the despondency found in Ecclesiastes:  I thought in my heart, "'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.' But that also proved to be meaningless. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."  Ecclesiastes 2:1, 8, 11.

The Ecclesiastes writer shows what happens when we don't have the true value of love.  Everything is meaningless!  (Don't you think it's awesome that God breathed a book into the hearts of man that allowed for the width and depth, the high and low, the entirety of human experience?)  Without love, everything IS meaningless.  Love for God, love for each other, and most importantly, His love for us are the driving forces for life as we know it.  Don't think so?  Just look around today.  Love is shown in many forms, we just don't call it that.  When you allow a driver at the stop sign to go ahead of you, that's love.  When you smile instead of scowl at a mother in the supermarket whose baby is screaming, that's love.  We make love choices every day.  It's a matter of doing it purposefully.

Tomorrow we will find the perfect definition of love.  It's right before our eyes . . .

Keep blazing!