LICC - Word for the Week - Love is...

LICC - Word for the Week - Love is...

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Galatians 5:22

Everybody, it seems, is searching for love - longing to be loved, longing to find someone to love. But what a muddle we get into when we try to pin down what we mean by love. It all springs out of our human need for relationship - for acceptance, for affection, for companionship, as well as for that most elusive thing, the experience of being "in love".

C.S.Lewis, in his useful book The Four Loves, distinguishes affection, friendship and eros (romantic sexual love) from the love that is the essence of the character of God (1 John 4:8). This is the love that Paul describes as patient and kind, not envious, boastful, proud, rude or self-seeking, not easily angered and keeping no record of wrongs (1 Cor.13: 4-5).

Sadly, in our increasingly fragmented society, there are many Christians who miss out on eros - the love that will ideally lead to marriage. It is deeply unhelpful to tell single members of our churches that all they need is Jesus. The whole Bible speaks of the importance of living, human community, and, for those who cannot find, or cannot fulfil, eros, the need for affection and friendship is crucial. In fact, we all yearn for the helping hand, the friendly hug, the eye to eye communication, the shared joke, the sociable meal.

But somehow we just don't have it in us to love everyone equally, either in our churches or in our workplaces. We have such different personalities, backgrounds and ways of doing things. The love that is the fruit of the Spirit, however, transcends our human likes and dislikes, and also transcends the affection and friendship we have for particular people: it both embraces these and goes far beyond them. For, Jesus said, this love can extend even to our enemies
So in the church there is no excuse for some people feeling excluded and unloved. We must plead with the Holy Spirit who lives in us to give us Jesus' love for everyone. And this includes our colleagues at work and everyone else we meet in our everyday lives. Some people may seem to us unlovely, but nobody is unlovable.

Helen Parry