What is love?

Why does it feel so wonderful to be loved? Why does it feel even better to love someone?

Why is it that when one gives up on love, everything else seems to fade away as well – joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion. Are they all connected in some way?

Erwin McManus offers these thoughts in his book Soul Cravings:

"We cannot live unaffected by love. We are most alive when we find it, most devastated when we lose it, most empty when we give up on it, most inhumane when we betray it, and most passionate when we pursue it."

Again, what is love?

Let me say this...Hollywood does not have the answer.

1 John 4:16: God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

God is love? What does that mean? I have heard that phrase thousands of times, but what does it mean? This past summer I had an epiphany about this which forever changed my perspective on love. It was not really anything super amazing, but I just remembered one basic principle from algebra. The word “is” in story problems often meant something equaled something else. The word “is” could be substituted by the equals sign. Like I said...nothing fancy.

So...

God = Love

Cool, right? Then I remembered things on either side of the equals sign could be rotated or flip flopped as long as they stayed unchanged on both sides. Huh?

Love = God

This is when it hit me. Love is God. Just soak in those words for a few minutes. Love is God. I’m going to say it again because it sends a tingle throughout my being with the very thought of it...love is God.

Why does it feel so wonderful to love or be loved? Love is the very presence of God. Love IS God. Isn’t that a mind boggling thought when you really stop to think about it? The very existence of love in every human circumstance, however great or small, is the presence of God.

My prayer for you today...may you experience the presence of God in your life...may you encounter love. God is love. Love is God.