What's Love Got To Do With It? Part 1

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."--C.S. Lewis

If I were to answer the question from that old Tina Turner song, I would say: Quite a lot actually.

Most people vaccilate between two extremes. The one extreme is that growing up, we never understood what love was. We probably had parents, especially fathers, that we never got on with especially if they didn't know Christ. We never really understood then (and probably even know) that they were dealing with us (and we with them) based on the extent of knowledge they possessed. So when someone talks about the love of God and they mention that God loves us like a father, we remember our father who was suppossed to love us and we go, "Thanks but no thanks with that God thing."

Then when we get older, we see the other extreme of love. The false picture. The one that Hollywood and other people have painted. I have used this example in an earlier blog post and I'll use it again. We can all remember a film where the teenage boy (who has an itch to scratch) tells the girl he has been trying to get to sleep with him (but with whom he has been having no luch as she's holding out): "I love you. If you love me, you'll give yourself to me (or some other such words). The girl has been holding out since the beginning of the film but because a challenge has been thrown to her to prove her love, she puts her hand in his and says "Yes'. By the time she says yes, there is not a dry eye in the theater. But the fact is that he didn't love her. If he did, he wouldn't ask her to prove her love. The fact is that he just has an itch to scratch and any girl would do. It's just that she has been unlucky enough to be chosen.

The definition of love by C.S. Lewis is one of the best definitions of love there is. If I were to add anything, it would be that if you loved someone, you would give of youself if you really are seeking the good of the person you say you love. I have never seen a better expression of love than that in John 3:16. That is the model that has been laid down for us. That is the model we must follow.

What do you think?


(JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO out now from WestBow Press, a division of Thoma Nelson Publishers (http://www.westbowpress.com/). You can also follow him @Cruz_JCReal)