Why love is important?

Why love is important?

Before we look the importance of love, let us first see the definition of love to let us understand why we need it. Define love. Love? Well, everyone knows what love is: Love is....... and you struggle to define it. You know it but find hard to define it. Theologians may say, ‘The definition of love is found in the Bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 1 to 13:   Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy, is not arrogant.... and the list goes on. To me that is not the definition of love but the characteristics. In other words, here Paul talks about what love is and what love is not. 

I once open a challenge to my Facebook friends to define love. Some of them attempted with different approaches. None satisfied me. But one of my high school teachers defined it in just 3 words: GOD IS LOVE. That satisfied me the most. Which is also found in the Bible, 1 john 4:8b. 

Of course there are different kinds of love: love between family members, love between friends, love between opposite sex and the unconditional love of God. I am satisfied with the definition ,’God is love,’ because without God’s love all other forms of love become conditional. And when love becomes conditional, to me, it is not true love. Relationship by blood doesn’t guarantee us love, nor between friendship nor likes, attraction and beauty between opposite sex. 

Love is important because God is love. If the love between you and God is strong and good, other forms of love will follow suit. You need to understand God’s love to fully understand the other kinds of love. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV