Love. One little four-letter word with so much meaning behind it. Unfortunately, the meaning is often skewed, especially in Western culture. Matt Chandler said in his Bible study Recovering Redemption that our culture likes the idea and feeling of love but does not want to pay for it. Yes, pay.
A dear brother in Christ talked with me earlier about how he doesn't like the term "in love." I nearly jumped for joy at the discovery that I wasn't alone in that sentiment. My roommate knows full well that I hate the term. In fact, she has followed my habit of replacing it with the Bambi-coined, "twitterpated." Anyway, my dear brother in Christ said something rather poignant. "So much of loving a person is commitment and sticking by that. It does not make sense to say 'in love.' Do you just fall out? No, not if it really is love you have. Thank God for that." Our short discussion led me to a thought: Should Christians even use the term, 'in love,'? I don't think we should. Here's why.
I'll put this in plain terms. "Christian" means, "little Christ," as in Christ Jesus. We believe that Christ Jesus was the Son of God and the Son of man. We learn in I John 4:8, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." Okay, so to recap, Jesus is God. God is love. We want to be like Jesus. So, we are to be love. How is that done? John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
So, love involves sacrifice. Self-sacrifice, to be specific. When Christ died for us, He was displaying the ultimate form of love.
If this is love, how did we come to using the word to mean a fleeting feeling of excitement? Well, to understand that, we have to go a very very long way back. (This is my personal hypothesis, so please feel free to correct me if I have missed something in my historical accuracy.) In ancient Greek, there are four words for, "love." (I wish English had that, too. There would be so much less confusion if that were the case.) These were phileos (brotherly love), storge (affection, or maternal love), eros (romantic/sensual love), and agape (unconditional love, or God's love). Then the Roman Empire took over. It spread as far West as Britain. The idea of love being the romantic feeling had to have made it there. Somehow, as English was formed, the word, "love," became the end-all be-all for anything pertaining to phileos, storge, eros, or agape. As times grew easier (which took hundreds of years), eros began to slowly take over the meaning of "love," in Western culture. Just like the way Rome was just before it fell, we became enamored with the idea of romance and excitement.
We got lazy.
Is eros what lead Jesus to die on the cross? The Da Vinci Code conspiracy theory might have us speculate that, but I'm not buying it. No, it was agape. Agape is how we as Christians, little Christs, are called to treat others. This is especially true within a romantic relationship. When you say that you "fell in love" with them, you imply that you can fall or climb back out of it. "Whoops! I have all these interesting and exciting feelings towards you. I have no idea how long they'll last, but let's not think about that. Oh, you want to talk about our future? Pshaw, I don't think so. I'm outta here. Bye!"
Be a little Christ. Be someone who stands up for true love, agape. Stop saying, "...in love."
A dear brother in Christ talked with me earlier about how he doesn't like the term "in love." I nearly jumped for joy at the discovery that I wasn't alone in that sentiment. My roommate knows full well that I hate the term. In fact, she has followed my habit of replacing it with the Bambi-coined, "twitterpated." Anyway, my dear brother in Christ said something rather poignant. "So much of loving a person is commitment and sticking by that. It does not make sense to say 'in love.' Do you just fall out? No, not if it really is love you have. Thank God for that." Our short discussion led me to a thought: Should Christians even use the term, 'in love,'? I don't think we should. Here's why.
I'll put this in plain terms. "Christian" means, "little Christ," as in Christ Jesus. We believe that Christ Jesus was the Son of God and the Son of man. We learn in I John 4:8, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." Okay, so to recap, Jesus is God. God is love. We want to be like Jesus. So, we are to be love. How is that done? John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
So, love involves sacrifice. Self-sacrifice, to be specific. When Christ died for us, He was displaying the ultimate form of love.
If this is love, how did we come to using the word to mean a fleeting feeling of excitement? Well, to understand that, we have to go a very very long way back. (This is my personal hypothesis, so please feel free to correct me if I have missed something in my historical accuracy.) In ancient Greek, there are four words for, "love." (I wish English had that, too. There would be so much less confusion if that were the case.) These were phileos (brotherly love), storge (affection, or maternal love), eros (romantic/sensual love), and agape (unconditional love, or God's love). Then the Roman Empire took over. It spread as far West as Britain. The idea of love being the romantic feeling had to have made it there. Somehow, as English was formed, the word, "love," became the end-all be-all for anything pertaining to phileos, storge, eros, or agape. As times grew easier (which took hundreds of years), eros began to slowly take over the meaning of "love," in Western culture. Just like the way Rome was just before it fell, we became enamored with the idea of romance and excitement.
We got lazy.
Is eros what lead Jesus to die on the cross? The Da Vinci Code conspiracy theory might have us speculate that, but I'm not buying it. No, it was agape. Agape is how we as Christians, little Christs, are called to treat others. This is especially true within a romantic relationship. When you say that you "fell in love" with them, you imply that you can fall or climb back out of it. "Whoops! I have all these interesting and exciting feelings towards you. I have no idea how long they'll last, but let's not think about that. Oh, you want to talk about our future? Pshaw, I don't think so. I'm outta here. Bye!"
Be a little Christ. Be someone who stands up for true love, agape. Stop saying, "...in love."
