Love... An EMOTION or A DECISION

A couple weeks ago, I was listening to Air1 as I was getting ready for work. Scott, the morning DJ made a statement about Love being a Decision a person takes on. Love was nothing more than a person saying to themselves, "you know I am committing to this __________ (*insert whatever it is that your little heart desires ) till the end." So this got me thinking and asking God a couple of questions.

Love... is it an emotion that people just experience and lose over time or is Love a decision to commit till the end, no matter what? Do people really love each other past the honeymoon stage of a relationship or when they loose those butterflies they get from the other person, do they loose that love? Then if they can lose that love, what keeps couples together past the silver and gold anniversaries? Is it really just a decision they took on? Has love become something so intangible that we have lost what great romantic writers use to write about? My favorite movie, "The Notebook" depicts a love that is above all loves. A love that shines till the end, even through dementia. Basically the movie teaches that LOVE concurs all obstacles in life. So was the movie really depicting an amazing view of what we WISH Love was?

I don't know but it did get thinking though, so what does this girl do... I go right to the Big Man and the Bible. I read up on all the verses that I could find that even mention the word love. In the bible I found Love to be both a decision and emotion. The more I read on it, the more I learned... You really can't have love without both, THE DECISION TO LOVE and THE EMOTION TO LOVE. I think that is why love is so hard to describe. So I started my research right at the beginning and one of the famous verses ever...

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.'

This is an example of LOVE as a decision and a emotion. God loves us so much that He made the decision that HIS SON, was going to pay for my sins. That's one decision I don't know I could ever make as a mother; however, if you look at this verse as an emotion... you see that GOD loves us so much. Emotion according to the webster on-line dictionary is having any kind of strong feelings. Well, think about it... if God didn't have a Strong feeling in us believing in HIM... why would He of sent Jesus to the cross to die such a horrific death? So this to me proves LOVE is both an emotion and a decision.

THEN....

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a and 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.



When you read this verse... it doesn't mention anything about the warm fuzzies, the butterflies, the weak knees or in my case... the prima grin I get when I even think of ANDY. So what in the world am I feeling lately... I love Andy, with all my heart and know that God gave me Andy to love. God gave me two amazing little girls to love, Mylah and Maria. God gave me one amazing family and friends to love. Lately... God has been handing me so many people to love, that I am wondering. Love is really more than just a decision and an emotion. Love is having God in your life. LOVE is knowing without a doubt and fear, that GOD is with you. That every person you see on the street, work, school or meet over the Internet... is someone GOD loves. That's someone God sent your way to LOVE. God is LOVE... now I could go through every verse that I read and prove this over and over again but really... it's just that simple. LOVE IS GOD...



1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

LOVE to me is something amazing. Its the one thing in the world that money can't buy, no one can take it away and you never owe on it; however, if your not careful with your Love/ Heart. You can lose more than just your time in that person. You could lose everything that is you, so like Pastor Vaughn tells us every chance he gets. Protect your heart. Protect your LOVE. It's the one part of your body that shows the true you, plus that's GOD's Home in YOU. So like you protect your worldly things with alarms, home security systems and guns... what are you doing to protect the LOVE in you. How do you grow in your LOVE? Then the people that God sends for you to LOVE... do they feel that LOVE? I hope that everyone in my life knows I love them, if don't... I'm Sorry and promise to address that.