What is love?

"Love is a decision, not an emotion or feeling." Ever heard that? Perhaps you have. Perhaps I've told it to you with my own mouth, because it's how I've traditionally understood the word "love." Maybe you've even said it yourself. As of late, I've been reconsidering this definition. Initially, I hadn't known where I had gone wrong in my personal theological study, but I knew something was flawed. Today a light turned on: the most glaring problem with this definition is what it ultimately says about my relationships, particularly with God.

When considering His love for me and the love He asks of me in return, a glaring problem arose: God doesn't desire from us an allegiance void of emotion. To the children of Israel Moses commanded, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." And yet, this "love" didn't simply require volitional obedience, void of feeling, for the Lord would later speak through the prophet Hosea, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." Even to Saul, Samuel declared, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..."

Loved ones, my poor definition has inadvertently led me to begin thinking in this dangerous manner: "I will love you, but that doesn't mean I have to like you." I realize now how terrible a definition of love this is, for not only has it undermined my relationship with others, it has painted a terrible picture in my mind of a God that does not love me. Even when I think of Christ and His Bride, the Church, I have acquiesced to this compromised belief, "Christ loves the church in action, but that's all, and nothing more."

Luther longed for a God whom He could love. As of late, I've understood his longing a bit better. The danger I would warn you of is not falling into this mentality that you can love people through decisions alone--it takes more than that. For if God simply wanted your decision, He'd be a different kind of God. In fact, God despises your empty decisions. I would even go as far to say he hates them (Amos 5:21–24). I would plead with you today, don't make the same mistake I did. You cannot serve God, have no love for Him, and yet hope to enter His Kingdom. You will not. Love is more than a decision.