Love despite, not love because
The other day, Laura and I were having dinner with one of our pastors and his wife, and they were asking about our relationship. And he mentioned something he heard from a Korean soap opera "Winter Sonata". It went something like this:
When you truly love someone, you can't explain why.He was saying that as he thought more and more about, he believed it to be very true. And I think there is at least some truth to the statement as well.
I remember several months ago, talking to some of my good friends about how I will know when I love someone. "You'll just know" is nice, but it didn't help me too much. And maybe my question is hard to answer because truly loving someone doesn't come about "because" of this or that, but "despite" this or that. Perhaps the "because love" is a shallower type of love because it fades when the reasons are gone, whereas the "despite love" continues to be there no matter the circumstances. If I love someone because she's sweet or a wonderful singer, does that mean I stop loving her when she doesn't have those characteristics anymore? But if I love her despite her being rude at times, or better than me at Scrabble, then the love is more unconditional.
posted by chongsun @ 12:37 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Chongsun,
This is a well-put statement. Sometimes you try to explain something and get lost in the words.
One thing that 1 Corinthians 13 doesn't say is that love is conditional. I think God meant for relational love (between man and woman, parent and child, siblings, friends, etc.) to be modeled after Christ's love for us - unconditional. Even marriage vows are stated in this manner - for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better for worse.
Another way of putting it:
Love in spite of, not because.
-Ronald T. (from BSF)
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