“Love…a word that comes and goes, but do people really know what it means to really love somebody?” This is the question proposed to the world by Kirk Franklin and one that I ask every student at this university. What is love? What does it mean to love somebody? Before you read on, I encourage you to take a few moments to think about it. Around this time of year we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is a holiday that underscores the commitment of love from one individual to another. Many of us express our love on this day with candy, flowers, cards and maybe even jewelry. This is usually done to make tangible our feelings toward a person. Unfortunately some of our actions stem directly from lust instead of love.
You see, there is a vast difference between the two. The natural tendency that every human being has is the desire to be loved. No matter what our economic or social status is, we will always crave it. Love is first of all unconditional; therefore it’s not confined by the boundaries of just an emotion. Love is also selfless and giving. It does not allow an individual to seek only what’s good for them, but mainly what’s good for others. Lust, on the other hand, is totally opposite. It operates only on a conditional status. Lust makes an individual want to get rather than give. It is completely selfish and not selfless. There is a great distinction between love and lust, but we do not notice it. We are colorblind to the fact that love is as bright as the radiant colors of the sun, and lust mirrors the dark shadows of the night.
All too often do individuals seek after love only to find lust. Some brothas may only stay with a young lady because she’s giving up sex, while some young ladies only stay with guys for protection and money. To be quite honest, some of us should blatantly say “I lust you” instead of “I love you.” Our insecurities cause us to depend on others to fulfill the desires that only God can fulfill. We spend so much time looking for love in all the wrong places, and supplement God’s love in ways such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and even sex. Others suffocate their need for love by wearing the latest style of clothing and expensive jewelry. On any day, you can find students walking around looking so perfect on the outside, yet hurting deep within. Even the most “thuggish” looking people go back to their rooms just to find their soul crying out for love. It’s like we major in externals and minor in internals.
It is God’s desire that we grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. The family structure was originally created to provide an oasis of love, and other platonic relationships are supposed to do the same. The good news is that God is the true source of genuine love. A mother’s love toward her children, or a husband’s love toward his wife greatly fails in comparison to God’s love toward us. In fact, love is not just what He does, but it’s who He is. God understands our need and desire to be accepted. He placed the thirst within us and is the only One who could legitimately quench it.
In the bible we can find the greatest love story ever written. God’s unconditional love for us is expressed through Him sending His son to die on the cross. Greater love has no one than this, that a man should lay down one’s life for a friend. If this is the ultimate example of love, than we should look at Easter as the national day of love. Jesus laid down His life so that we may experience eternal life, and that is truly love worth finding.