“If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.”  I John 3:14

I have talked about this before, in a several different places.  There are many different definitions and ideas about what love is.  Most people in our world now a days, seem to have made themselves very comfortable with the idea that love is something that we fall into and can fall out of.  This idea believes that love is some magical feeling we get when we meet the right person.  If this is what you think of when you think of love, then you are probably right about it being something that we can fall into and out of.

A better word for that magical feeling that we get when we meet that person that makes us feel really special is probably attraction.  Love, real love is appreciating the goodness in another person.  When the Bible speaks of God’s love for us, it is God appreciating the goodness is us.  You may think, but there is nothing good in me compared to God, and you would be right, but we can’t forget that God created us and we are made in His image.  God sees what we can’t see and His attraction to that good in us allows him to appreciate the good that he can see and that is love.

Love is active and we can create it, just by appreciating the goodness that is in another person.  This is why love really is a choice.  A choice that each of us make many times and in many different ways every day.

There are in existence, what I like to think of as different flavors of love.  There is “eros”, where we get our word erotic.  When we accept and appreciate the beauty of the physical in another person, we experience this “eros” love.  Eros love is often the next step after attraction, but it does not have to be.  “Eros” love is about physical passion, gratification and fulfillment.

There is a love called “storge”.  This is the love that parents share with children and children share with parents.  It is only natural to look at your blood and appreciate the goodness, often of yourself that is in them.  This is a love that flows almost naturally and without effort.

There is also “phileo” love.  Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love.  This is a love of affections, a love that takes delight in being in the presence of another.  This is often that warm feeling that seems to come and go.  This is a love that cares about another as if they were blood.

And then there is “agape” love.  This is the love that our Creator loves us with.  This is love that seeks the welfare and blessing of the other person.  This is a love that flows regardless of the feelings or emotions that we often get tangled up in.  This truest of loves is a choice that we make, regardless of how we feel and that is why this love is so powerful.

When we love others, it is proof that the love of God has found its way into our lives.  Proof that we are not dead, but alive to Him and His power that flows into and through our lives. We should seek this love and share this love, because it means that we are alive and being alive, really alive is a good thing!