Love exemplified
No human marriage captures love perfectly, but I think this wonderful story of Ian and Larissa (on Stuff.co.nz and the UK’s Daily Mail) comes close.
The judge that allowed the marriage remarked:
“You two exemplify what love is all about. I believe that marriage will not only benefit you both but our community and hope that everyone in this city could see your love for one another”.
Brilliant.
Love defined
On the topic of love, just happened to read this as well, from chapter 8 in John Stott’s “The Cross of Christ”:
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16)
Most people would have no difficulty in telling us what they think love is. They may know that whole books have been written with the purpose of distinguishing between different kinds of love, like Anders Nygren’s Agape and Eros (1930) and C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves (1960). Nevertheless, they would claim that the meaning of love is self-evident.
John would disagree with them, however. He dares to say that, apart from Christ and his cross, the world would never have known what true love is.
Of course all human beings have experienced some degree and quality of love. But John is saying that only one act of pure love, unsullied by any taint of ulterior motive, has ever been performed in the history of the world, namely the self-giving of God in Christ on the cross for undeserving sinners.
That is why, if we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary, but at Calvary.
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