Do you really know the true meaning of Love?

The title sounds cheesy but this is not about a love where you can feel butterfly in your stomach or where you can see fireworks. Before I go on further, I would like to define what love is. According to wikipedia, Love is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment. Love is also a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection —"the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another". Love may describe actions towards others or oneself based on compassion or affection. We often say, Love is Blind. We can define it the way we feel According to the Holy Bible, Love is patient, Love is kind…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) For me, the ultimate meaning of Love is God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8). He gave us the greatest gift that we can ever have and that is salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that everyone is familiar with John 3:16 but let me reiterate, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God “SO” love the world not God love the world. It means an intense love of God for us. 

Let me go down to the main point that want to share and I pray that after reading this article many would realize the true meaning of love. When I was young, a few years younger than I am right now, I often get this advice: “Before someone could love you, love yourself first”. That’s true. I have nothing against it but, How can you really love yourself? Does this mean you just do whatever you want? Eat, drink and indulge? Enjoy life to its fullest? Maybe many would suggest those things but I won’t. How someone could really live his/her life to the fullest? Is it by spending lot of cash by means of travelling, partying, shopping and socializing? Spending lot of times with family and friends? What if, you don’t have those things? Does this mean you can’t live your life to the fullest? I don’t think so. Jesus is the only way we can live our life to the fullest. He said “The thief has comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). I’ve already asked a lot of people to scale the fulfillment of their life from 1-10. No one has answered 10. It is sad to think that if I’m in their situation, I could have given it a score more than 10. I was not satisfied with my life before. We are not rich, not at all. We only lived by the grace of God but since I’ve let Jesus to be the Lord of my life, I have felt this fullness though nothing dramatically has changed in our life. We are still not rich. Everything is still the same in a man’s point of view, the only thing that has changed is my love for Jesus.

Before, I thought I love myself. I thought, I take good care of it. In fact, I never let my body go hungry. I feed it with lots of food. I was wrong. Though, I don’t smoke, drink and do drugs. Still, this is a vice. I could not say it is better than smoking, drinking and etc. If I don’t stop, I would probably end up in the hospital even before I reach 70. Same goes with smoking and drinking. Now, let me ask you a question and quietly answer it. “Do you love yourself?” “How about your family, your wife and your kids?” Do you really love them? My father was a chain-smoker. He died at the age of 65 because of lung cancer. If he’s not smoking, most probably he is still alive today. Do you want that to happen to your own family? Don’t you want to reach the age of 80 or 90 and see your great grandchildren? Which is better, taking good care of your body or indulging with things that makes you happy but would bring harm to you eventually? Thinking about yourself, only yourself is selfish. You are surrounded by people who loves you. Who wants to spend more time with you but you are taking it for granted right now. You can enjoy, you can party, you can have fun without compromising your health. We only live once. After, eternity comes along.

Now, we only have one body and one soul. Why would you ever take both for granted? I have taken my body and soul for granted one way in other but I can no longer afford to do it for the rest my life. I’ll take good care of those two from this day until the day the Lord will take me in His kingdom.

You have choice, love yourself alone or love yourself and the people around you.

Last question, you believe in God? If your answer is yes, Do you love Him? If yes, then honor Him. How? See the verse below:

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20