A lot is said about true love. The world longs for affection. We long to adore and to be adored. But true love is not really about emotion.
The Apostle Paul tells us that true love is patient. That means making a choice to continue to engage when circumstances are irritating. Love is kind. That means choosing to treat someone as we want to be treated.
True love is a choice. Taking action. True Love is making decisions that benefit others, choices that often bring additional difficulty.
True love will likely cause pain. But it is worth it. It is worth it because love is what brings meaning to all we do. Anything we do that is outside of love doesn’t matter. It doesn’t last. It is fleeting. All we do out of true love brings lasting benefit.
We cannot exercise true love with an inward focus. Of course the great paradox is that we experience true life by dying to self. When we set aside selfish desires in order to love truly, that is when we are most fulfilled.
Let’s take inventory of our actions. What choices are we making to love? Are our interactions with our children or grandchildren for their best interest or for our own prestige? Are we seeking the best for our spouse or appeasing them to minimize discomfort? Are we avoiding awkwardness with friends or taking actions to elevate their wellbeing?
Love is about not just what we choose to do but why we choose to do it.
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7