Real Love
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” : Martin Luther King Jr.
Music, TV, and dating apps have conditioned today’s society to think love is easy and manufactured. However, it takes hard work and is often not the perfectly painted picture the media industry portrays.
Love Is Not
Emotions are fleeting and unsteady – love is not a feeling. Words can be empty, inconsistent, and careless – love is not words. Love is considerate, fulfilling, and intentional. Demonstrated through actions, it exists even in difficult times.
Love Is
“So we have come to know and believe God has love for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” -1 John 4:16. God is love; He is intentional, fulfilling, and steady. Love sent his innocent son to die on the cross, a punishment meant for the guilty; to be punished for their sins, all because of unconditional love.
Types of Love
The Cleveland Health Clinic defines eight types of love: non-love, liking, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love. These eight types vary in levels of intimacy, passion, and commitment. The clinic explains, “Each kind of love is different enough that you might find yourself maintaining relationships in several categories, but sometimes, a single relationship will evolve, transitioning among the types along the way.”
How Love Speaks
Love languages demonstrate how an individual feels appreciated in relationships. There are five types: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. Examples of ways to demonstrate each include – compliments, doing a task for someone, giving a thoughtful gift, spending time with someone, and a hug. Learning how someone shows or receives appreciation can lead to a healthier community.
Focused and Fruitful
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.” At Echoing Hills, we make it our mission to produce fruit by demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/understanding-love-stages-and-languages
