What’s Love Got To Do With It…Everything.

Tina Turner sang a hit song, “What’s love got to do with it?” Here are the words to the chorus.

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love but a secondhand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

Is love a secondhand emotion? It depends on how you define it. What is the definition of love? What is the definition of emotion?

A Google search for love says, “1. An intense feeling of deep affection. 2. A great interest and pleasure in something.”

A Google search for emotion says, “A conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as a strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body. “A state of feeling.”

If love is an emotion, a feeling, or a pleasure, then it is subject to change.

However, the Bible defines love as an action word. Here is how God defines love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. 

I think we have heard these versus quoted so many times we don’t stop and consider what they are telling us. How does God want me to act? Does He want me to act like this all the time? Does He want me to act like this towards those I am close too or everyone. In Matthew 22:39 Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In Matthew 5:44 He said, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” What would my world look like if I lived this way?

Love is patient. Am I always patient even when others are slowing me down?

Love is kind. Am I always kind to those I encounter in my day?

Love does not envy. Do I feel cheated when someone has something I want?

Love does not boast. Do I need to make sure everyone knows the good things I have done?

Love is not proud. Do I get puffed up when I feel I did something great?

Love does not dishonor others. Do I talk down about those I disagree with?

Love is not self-seeking. Do I see love as someone caring for me or me caring for others?

Love is not easily angered. Do I get upset when things do not go my way?

Love keeps no record of wrongs. Do I hold things against people, or can I let them go?

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Is being truthful important to me?

Love always protects. Do I protect those around me?

Love always trusts. Do I trust people? Do I trust God?

Love always hopes. Do I have hope in God’s plan?

Love always preserves. Do I live to preserve in His truth?

Love never fails. Never fails to do the right thing. God’s definition of love is not a secondhand emotion. I believe the problem with the world’s definition of love is buried in the middle of this list. “Love is not self-seeking.”

Think about people’s comments on why they “love” someone. Comments like, “They make me feel happy” or “I feel proud when I am seen with them” or “I love being loved by them”. If my definition for love is how it makes me feel, my definition does not agree with 1 Corinthian 13. God’s definition is actions toward others, not self-focused.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 states,

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² 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 do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

I have said before the fact that we use the same word to describe how we think about ice cream, our kids, our spouse, and God is a problem. Thinking through this issue, I have recognized there are levels in our relationships. Greek words help differentiate these levels; philia is brotherly love, agape is unconditional love, eros intimate love.

1. I know someone casually.
2. As I learn about a person, and we have similar likes, they become a friend…philia.
3. People I am committed to, like children and best friends, no matter what happens…agape.
4. The few I know deeply, God and my spouse, I know intimately who they are…eros.

However, the level of our relationships does not change 1 Corinthians 13. We are called to be a reflection of God’s love through our actions toward others. God is love. Love is the core of our faith. Without love, we have nothing. What’s love got to do with it…Everything.