"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." - 1 John 4:16

We were asked the question - could you please address the difference between Love and Infatuation? This simple question takes us to such profound depths that we believe it was prompted to edify us all! Thank you, and we hope this weeks post is helpful in that regard.

1. Love is not just an attribute of our God - He IS Love personified!

An attribute is something you possess - your height, your weight, your skin color- our God has similarly has attributes like omniscience, wisdom, mercy, compassion, power - but they do not define the essence of Him no more than your weight defines who you are as a person. You are a living soul uniquely created in the image of God living in a human body. The Word clearly says that God IS Love. It is who He is at His fundamental core and is what defines Him. The Word also says that God IS Spirit... do you see it? What He IS, and what He possesses are two different things.

Love is who He IS - and it shines out of every aspect of the Word and all His actions described in it. Love of God, Love of our fellow Human being.. sums up the entire duty of man and is the whole Law! God 'SO LOVED' the World... that He gave His only begotten Son. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

We see this Love reflected in all of His creation too... examples abound in the animal kingdom. We see facets of this love expressed in our human souls as well - brotherly/sisterly/comradely love (greek - Philia), physical love (greek - Eros, think of the Song of Solomon) , playful/childlike/fun-fellowship (greek - Ludus), long lasting love in married relationships (greek - Pragma), love for others/sacrificial (greek - Agape), love for oneself (greek - Philautia), love of parents to children (greek - Storge).

Love is multidimensional! (that there are 7 types in the ancient greek may just be coincidental :-)) There is much to meditate on here on just this first point alone! Think of how who God is (Love) is reflected in what you see around you.

2. Love does not exist in isolation, it is always a relationship between two or more and is directed Towards the object.

Father-Son - "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." - John 3:35 Son-Father - "But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." - John 14:31 Our Triune God was complete in Himself in that the three persons of the Trinity existed in a perfect loving relationship with each other before the world was created. They did not need us, but created us, to show forth their love, glorify, share, increase and multiply it by their relationship with us, and us with Them! The focus of Love is relationship.

Here is a key difference between Love and Infatuation. Infatuation may involve two people, but the focus of infatuation is the satisfaction of "my" desire. It desires to have, to possess the object of its attention to satisfy its longing... it may want its desire to be reciprocated - but that is sometimes almost irrelevant! Love on the other hand seeks the well being of the one being loved without regard of self - it is OTHER directed. Infatuation is SELF directed.The acid test here is to ask the question - would we still desire the well being of the other person even if he/she were to choose to share their life with someone else? This is like a bucket of ice-cold water - but it should serve to draw our attention to the roots of our feelings. Do we love the other person for who THEY are or do we love them for what they can do for US, how they make US feel? True love seeks the well being of others without regard to ourselves.
3. Love transcends the physical.

In our early years, our hormones, and even our evolving emotions confuse us into believing that what we are experiencing is love. We may so believe it that any suggestion that this is "not the real thing" will be met with tears, anger and rebellion. This is natural and expected, and many nations have taken the approach of encouraging pre-marital relationships to let the young "get it out of their systems". In greek terms, get the "Eros" out of the way so that we can enter into a "Pragma" relationship. This seems logical right? - but - If you stop and think about it, just from a marriage perspective - if both partners are entering into a sacred covenant union, it is not helpful to them to have made gifts of their bodies to others before they do it. There is a joy in discovering things together in marriage that far outweighs the momentary satisfaction of physical urges before it. There is a sacredness and holiness here that only those who have experienced it for themselves can testify about, and it is sad that children today are missing it.

As we have previously stated - LOVE IS A CHOICE AND NOT A FEELING. Its roots go way deeper into our soul, mind, and body so that it is a way of life. It is no wonder that our Lord says - "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."(Mk 12:29-30).

You cannot Love God through ecstatic worship experiences alone. It is a practical day to day working out, learning, living, hurting and painful experience. It is not limited to Hallmark cards and Wedding anniversaries. It is a state of mind that sees the value of every single human being and looks to serve and help them - not because of who they are, but what they represent -images of the living God.

Love has attributes - like the Apostle Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 13 - "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated,it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails."

These are all CHARACTERISTICS of Love, but do not point to the source.God IS Love and He is not infatuation.

Hallelujah!