What Is Love?

One description of love is 'a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, a warm fondness or liking for another.'  It is a quality that moves people to work for the good of others, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Love, as it is described in the Bible, involves both the mind and the heart. The mind, or intellect, plays a role because a person who loves does this with his eyes open, recognizing that he and other humans that he loves all have weaknesses as well as attractive qualities.  The intellect is further involved since there are those whom a Christian loves-sometimes, perhaps, against his natural inclinations-because he knows from his reading of the Bible that God wants his to do so.  (Note: This means like a brotherly or sisterly love towards others, because some people are not affectionate people and don't like to be touched by just anyone) (Matthew 5:44; 1 Corinthians 16:14)   Still, love basically comes from the heart. Genuine love as it is revealed in the Bible is never mere intellectual. It entails deep sincerity and full emotional commitment. -1 Peter 1:22. 

People who are selfish at heart are rarely capable of a truly loving relationship because a person who loves is prepared to put the interests of another ahead of his own. (Philippians 2:2-4) Jesus' words" There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving"  are especially true  when the giving is an act of love.  (Acts 20:35)  Love is a powerful bond.(Colossians 3:14) It often includes friendship, but the bonds of love are stronger than those of friendship.  The romantic relationship between a husband and his wife is sometimes described as love; however, the love that the Bible encourages us to cultivate is more enduring than physical attraction. When a couple truly love each other, the remain together even if a physical relationship is no longer possible because of the infirmities of old age of because one of them is incapacitated. 

Next time: Love-An Essential Quality

From the Watchtower magazine, 2001