So what is love? I've heard science say it's a chemical reaction. So does that mean love can be induced by a drug? How cold and absurd to liken love to a test tube. So what is love? Is it mutual compatability? Is it an agreement that honours both parties? Is love simply an emotional state? Is love the equivalent of pleasure and bliss? Is love comfort and safety? I believe all of the above are totally incorrect. As someone who grew up in a broken home barely ever hearing the words "I love you" from a genuine heart - I began a search in my late teens as to what love really was. There seemed to be so many that spoke of love but I felt as if so few really knew what it meant. That search came to a conclusion when an event happened in my life that God used to bring everything I had ever known and built come crashing down around me. In such a moment of cataclysmic destruction God used something so small to create a mirror of sorts in my life that allowed me to see what love really was. Love in its purest form is a choice. You don't find love - you choose to love. A love that is found is a love that can be lost. Falling in love is also something you can fall out of. But when love is a choice - then only you can break it. If that choice is maintained every single day then love becomes an impenetrable force that grows. The Bible says in 1 John 4:19 "We love - because God first loved us". The very notion of love is only possible and known to us as humans because of God himself. God is love embodied. It's not a part of His character - It is who He is. He is love. He chooses to love us even though we fail, even though we sin, even though we blatently disobey - He always has love for us. Put simply, He looked at a world full of His own creations that had become corrupted by sin and knew they couldn't ever help or save themselves - so He chose to die to save us. That's love right there. A choice. God chose you. He didn't need to do that but He chose to for one simple reason... Love.
