Do we these days

understand love the way Paul wrote of it in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13, or is love today a throwaway line, and“i’ll love you now till something better comes along”sort of love?

We use the word love so readily that I sometimes wonder if it has it lost its true meaning?

We speak of loving a movie, loving our favourite foods, loving our country, loving our things, we even watch TV shows called Love Island and Love Boat, (I may be showing my age with that one) but their idea of love seems to bear no resemblance to the love Paul describes.

Paul speaks of a love that is selfless, a love that doesn’t keep score, a love that is passionate without anger or aggression. He speaks of a love that protects and trusts always, a love that speaks only truth with no hidden agendas.

Can we see all or even any of these things in the possessions, places, or TV shows we say we love? Paul reserves the word love for his love of God and his love of neighbour.

The Bible teaches us to“love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(matt. 22: 37) but it also tells us to“love your neighbour as yourself”(matt. 22: 39).

Both Paul and Jesus reserve the use of the word love for God and those people known and yet to be known to us, not to objects and things that take our fancy for a short time.

Perhaps if we tried to reserve our love for our neighbours rather than our possessions, the world could be a bit more of a loving place to live in. God Bless. Drew Gebbie, probationer Minister.