It can be expressed in innumerable ways to an unlimited number of people; nothing can equal its omnipresence. Yet it is so often ignored or shunted to the peripheries. So totally important, yet often misused and abused. It can be expressed as a feeling, an emotion, a passion; all of which may have some validity, but it is only in action that it can really be seen and treasured. It is Love! Love is so important that the roman poet, Virgil, noted that “Love conquers all.” Similarly emphasizing the importance of love, the English author, Robert Browning, insightfully noted that ” Take away love and our earth is a tomb.” Jesus emphasized on numerous occasions that the key to man’s happiness was love of God and of man’s neighbor. Since God is Love, He should be the example man follows. There is the realization that without love life is barren, incomplete, or worse. Since love is vital for man, hopefully man will continue to seek the author of love and give Him the love that He deserves.

Since he first began to think, man has attempted to describe love. Throughout the centuries and in current times, he continued his effort to define that which may not be able to be defined in words. Yet love is more than a feeling…. indeed much more. It is an act of the will. Love can only be realized in action, when feelings and thoughts are expressed concretely. The action may be as simple as a smile or a kind word or it may be as complex as the lasting relationship of a husband and wife. It is easier to describe what love is not…. it is not self seeking, centered only on pleasure or reward. The only certainty that one can say about love is that without it man is destitute.

Man’s great consolation, his only hope is that God loves us. If God does not exist or has forsaken us, then in what can man hope? But God does exist! Since God loved us first; he created us, forgave us when we failed Him and suffered for us to open eternal salvation for us. In all things he showed us that love is action; it is so much more than feelings or emotion. Love demands action and God is always available to help us in love. However, there is a major caveat, love cannot be twisted to man’s own wants or desires. Love comes from God, its author, not from man. Jesus provided man with His own example of love….compassion for others, a willingness to forgive, and most important, the courage to endure disappointment or even suffering for the beloved. Thus man must acknowledge and follow Jesus’ example of love, which some seem to find too radical and challenging. The choice is clear; accept and follow God’s definition of love and achieve true happiness or accept a false description of love created by man and achieve only sorrow and disappointment.

Choose God or man.