What is love?

What is love? Love is the value that you give to or have for another person, or the value that another person gives to or has for you. And how do you find out how much you love another person? Or how much you are loved by another person? You find out by how much/what they do for you, how much/what they've done for you and how much/what they are willing to do for you and vice versa--because love without action is not true love; true love can be seen and experienced. You also find out how much someone values/loves you by the way they think about you, what they think about you, and how much they think about you. Love is more than an emotion that you feel: it is emotion and thought backed and demonstrated by action, it is a force. And we find a perfect demonstration of love in God, because God is love. That's the kind of love that God and I are talking about here--the God-kind of love. It's different from the human-kind of love, the human kind of love is selfish at its best, but in the love of God there is no selfishness at all. Human love says, "Love those who love you; like those who like you; if someone treats you bad, stop liking them, treat them badly..." these are just a few examples. But God's kind of love says, "Love your enemies; pray for those who hate you; do good to them that mistreat you..." these are also just a few examples: but as you can see, there's a big difference between the two, one is selfish at its best and is conditional (dependent on circumstances--what you do, say or think), but the other is unselfish and unconditional (not dependent on circumstances--what you do, say or think). God loves everybody, it doesn't matter what a person has said, thought or done, God still loves them. God looked at the world, and He saw the evil that was happening in it; He saw all of the sins that the people were committing against Him; He saw many people worshiping and looking for many different "gods" that were not Him (which He hates and hated); He saw that the majority of the world didn't even love, care or even think about Him, they were His enemies, doing all those things that God hates and hated. Instead of destroying and punishing the people that did all of these things, God sent His Son into the world to save the people of the world from the punishment that was due to them for all the evil and ungodly things they did against God: and to save them from their sins. God sent Jesus Christ (His only Son at the time), to live a good, holy and perfect life for every person who lived and would ever live in the world: and to face and taste the punishment that every person deserved for their wrong doings, evil thoughts and ungodly actions. And God raised Him from the dead on the third day, and He's alive and at the right hand of God in Heaven right now, representing everybody who has believed in and come to God through Him. Why did God go through all of this trouble for the people who hated and despised Him though? And those who didn't even think or care about Him? Well, Jesus Christ made it clear (and who knew the mind, heart and will of God the Father, more than His Own Son?), He said, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized (valued) the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life." When you read the word "world" here, don't think of mountains, cars, buildings, trees, plants, seas, rivers and so on, God is talking about human beings, that's who He "...so greatly loved and valued..." that He even gave His Son to die for them (in their place). Out of all the created things in this universe, the most valuable creature to God and most loved by God, is the spirit and soul of the human being. Read what I said about love at the beginning of this writing, and hopefully you will see the value that God has for you. The Bible says, "...God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 'While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'" A man of God in the Bible, David by name, said this to God, "...Your thoughts towards us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Take time to think about this, God has so many thoughts about every person that they cannot be numbered, and these are all good and positive thoughts of love about and towards each person! Jesus Christ, the Bible says, "...was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world didn't know (recognize) Him. He came to His own, but His own didn't receive Him, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the power (right, ability) to become the children of God." Those who are saved and will be saved are those who receive or have received Jesus Christ, and that's the first step that a person needs to take. If you have not yet received Jesus Christ into your life, and you now realize that you need Him and want Him in your life, this is what the Bible says to you, "...if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." It's that easy and simple to be saved, you don't have to stop sinning first, you have to receive Jesus Christ first, and He will help you and give you the power to stop sinning and doing wrong, and give you the power and ability to do right!

By Arthur Ncube.