Biblical Tidbits

What the bible has to say about love?

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

Love is a word that is used quite frequently in our everyday lives. We love to watch a certain television show. We love to eat pizza. We love go shopping. We love to read books or listen to music. It easy to become confused about love, but God's word offers a concrete guide.

There are four types of love:

Eros describes the relationship between male and female.

Stergos describes affection or the mutual love between family members.

Philos descibes the care and concern that friends have for each other.

Agape describes a unique type of love that involves a conscious and deliberate choice to do good for another person regardless of the circumstances. This unconditional love is best seen in God's love for the world (John 3:16) and in the love that God calls believers to display (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

Jesus' answer to the lawyer in Matthew 22 tells us as Christians we must have an "agape" love for one another. To learn how to show real love, we must first learn from The Master … God is love (1 John 4:16).

People often fail in their relationships because they seek the wrong places for answers. When we concentrate on just learning to love God with our entire beings, it becomes easier to unconditionally love our neighbors, families, friends, and even our enemies. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).