What is Love?
Everyone seems to believe that love
is a good thing. However, not all would agree on what love is. Is love that warm feeling you get when you’re
near a familiar person? Or is love what you feel when you hug your puppy?
According to the Bible, love is caring in action. Love isn’t what we feel at
all, but rather what we do.
First we must understand that the
essence of God is pure love and this ‘Divine Love’ is the foundation behind every
human soul. It is always true, pure and constant. It’s not something you have
to earn from God, for God never angers, rejects or punishes you.
So I pose the question to you. What
is love and why is it so vital to a healthy spirit?
The confusion on this subject is
because we are limited to one English word used to describe a broad range of
meanings, when in fact the word love comes from the Greek language and actually
has four words to describe the different types of love, they are:
Eros
Love – Is physical passion, gratification and fulfillment. It is inferred in
many scriptures as the love between one-man and one-woman.
Storge
Love – Is the natural bond between mother and child, father, children, and kin.
It’s quite easy to recognize.
Phileo
Love - Is a love of the affections. It is delighting to be in the presence of
another, you know that warm feeling that comes and goes with intensity.
Agape
Love – Is God’s kind of love. It is seeking the welfare and betterment of
another regardless of how we feel. It is not based on feelings or affection. This
act of Agape love is so very strong even in the Bible it states “We can agape
our enemies regardless of how we feel. If they are hungry, we can feed them; if
they thirst we can give them drink” (Rom. 12:20-21). We must choose to seek the
betterment and welfare of others regardless of how we feel.
To
be able to love without attachments or expectations is the highest form of love
that a human being can express. This kind of love supports the healing of others
and our personal evolution. In spiritual (Agape) love it is far less important
what one receives from the love object, than what one is able to give.
So,
why does love have such power? Perhaps it is because this is the purest
form of energy we can project as spiritual beings. Being free from attachments or
the outcome, yet full of compassion and caring, this kind of love is transformational
at every level.
And
so to answer my earlier question as to why love is so vital, I leave you with
this;
If
I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Love
indeed makes the world go around. Is your love gauge on full or empty?
Namaste’
Rev.
Edwige
