More on love...

“ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ” (1 John 4:10)

Being a parent, I have a new perspective on what love is.

The love I have for my wife is enhanced - shall we say - by the feelings she gives me. Again, there is a very selfish element to my love for her. When I was thinking about it, I figured that the love I have for my extended family (especially my parents) is more of a selfless love. After further review, I realized that I love my parents because they first loved me. It's a reactionary love based on what they've done for me.

Granted, in both cases there is a strong element of agape love. The thing I wonder about though, is whether or not that love would hold strong if my parents weren't loving toward me, or if my wife was less than loving. It's that uncertainty that brings me back to my analogy of love with my kids.

My three kids could never do anything to stop me from loving them. I'll pause to acknowledge the fact that my oldest boy is only 6, and that I don't know the trials that some people go through with their children. However, I really believe that there's nothing that my kids could do to cause me to question my love for them. The interesting thing is that this love began before they were even breathing air.

My feelings for my kids are not based on anything they've done or not done. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, my kids are my creation. (Granted, I had some help.) Similarly, we are God's creation and He looks at us with that same kind of love. So much so - in fact - that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice so that we could be with Him some day.

Now that is true love.