What is Love?

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me, no more."

I heard this song in a commercial a few years back and the chorus has doggedly refused to leave my mind.  It is indeed put to a catchy beat, but there's more than that.  It's a simple commentary on injustice in society and relationships, a cry against our messed up world.




Society's ever deteriorating worldview has kicked the foundation out from under a concept like love.  What importance can love have if it's based off a chemical reaction in the brain and nothing else?  In order to make sense of the inexplicable sometimes it's necessary to describe what we know it isn't.  We see this in the chorus as the songwriter basically says, "I don't know what love is, but it isn't someone trying to cause you pain. it isn't unrestrained malice and ill will."

Have you ever seen someone with a brand-name product that didn't seem quite right? The pair of tennis shoes with the name slightly misspelled or the font not quite right?  Usually these are made by companies who intend to use the good reputation of someone else in order to sell a cheaper and poorly-made product. There are even some consumers who buy these products because they desire the look and reputation more than the product itself.



This concept of buying cheap knockoffs to attain a look or attentions seems as though it was meant to speak to the philosophical aspect of humanity.  We spend our lives buying into cheap ideas and behaviors that only hold up for a short period of time before breaking down and leaving us poorer than we were before with no lasting gain to show for it.  We accept mediocre because it costs far less and reflects the value we have given ourselves internally.



So what exactly is love?


I can tell you what it's not.


It's not hurtful.
It's not cheap.
It won't cost you your integrity.
It isn't based on variables.
It's never about "making a point"



Love is a product that you have to get from the original manufacturer. There's knockoffs everywhere, but you'll find they've sacrificed it's integrity to reduce consumer cost.  However, the real stuff is worth it.  It costs a lot.  It'll cost you time and money.  It will force you to act upon what you say.  It will not be discarded one day and picked up the next.  It will require servant-hood and obedience.

It will last an eternity.
It will give you a happiness that your chemical emotions will envy.
It will be worth it.

John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Mark 12:29-30 "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."