All you need is love

On this rainy Monday, I am still feeling inspired from last night's sermon despite the dreary weather. Pastor Andy Stanley spoke about love as a verb...as in the act of loving someone (Listen to this sermon at http://www.northpoint.org/messages, it is fantastic). Webster's Dictionary defines love as "1. strong affection or liking for someone or something, 2. a passionate affection for one of the opposite sex, 3. the object of such affection; sweetheart." While it is classified as a noun in this example, I feel that the dictionary definition of the word fuses a noun and a verb.

Jesus makes it even more plain and simple in John 15:17, "This is my command: Love each other." Christ knows that love is a verb. You love someone. Andy really hit the nail on the head yesterday when he said: "Love each other more, and you will make love more." (He was of course referring to married couples.) What a novel concept :)

I don't claim to be an expert on love, but it seems relatively simple to me. Make love a verb, and put the other person's wants and needs before your own. I know that "life" tends to get in the way and makes this concept much more difficult. That being said, I know that truly loving someone selflessly is no easy task. I challenge you to just love others. Love them in every way possible despite their flaws, attitudes, and actions. Put your significant other before yourself and see what happens. For at the end of the day, all you need is (to) love.