What is Love?

Emily Dickinson is perhaps the most famous female poet in the world. I have never understood Emily Dickinson, although I've always been interested in her. I have never really been a connoisseur of poetry. I don't understand most poetry and many times the rhyme or lack thereof does not affect my understanding either way. I just don't like reading something I can't relate to. But the lines she wrote that I have been able to relate to are wonderful. Like this one: "That love is all there is, Is all we know of Love;..." The rest of it is incomprehensible to me, or perhaps I would be able to untangle it with a teacher, but there is not one handy. Here's my favorite Emily Dickinson line: "Narcotics cannot still the Tooth that nibbles at the soul." The "Tooth that nibbles at the soul" is such an apt description of the many human maladies that we humans struggle with, whether it is anxiety, loneliness, depression, discouragement, disappointment, emptiness looking for something to fill it. Addiction also might fit into that category. Drugs can't cure that emptiness, she is saying, and it is so true I wish I could design a T-shirt with that poem on it. Perhaps I will. Love must be the most misunderstood word in the English language--or in any language. If you believe in the biblical definition of love, that God is love, then what also seems apparent is that God is the most misunderstood Person in the world. and I think that is fairly obvious. Many people don't even understand that God is a Person, not a theory or an idea or a philosophy, a principle, a doctrine, a swear word, an emotion, or an act disconnected with a person, but the Person of God, so, therefore, the world goes crazy for lack of love, lack of God, or both? You already know how I feel about this. "God in three Persons," the old hymn says, "Blessed Trinity." One of the most distorted statements about love is the recent "Love is love," but "love" really cannot mean both God and what that expression is declaring. I think we as a culture have a concept of love that is not love at all, but whatever people want it to be at the moment. We all use the term very loosely, the same word for how we feel about our favorite food, or our car, or our dog or any of a variety of other things we say we love. Here are some lyrics I wrote in 2024, about love; it's called "Only Love Can Answer" If brilliance were the answer the smartest people would always win They would always be happy, not popping pills and drinking gin If talent were the answer, all the stars would stay together World hunger would be ended and nations live in peace forever Love is not a contest; love is not a race Only love can answer the problems that we face Love cannot be bought, love cannot be sold Love can live inside your heart if you’re young or if you’re old Beauty’s not the answer, neither wealth nor youth (And) love does what love does best in the service of the truth But love can die if it’s not fed And love is useless if it’s dead… Love cannot be bought, love cannot be sold Love can live inside your heart if you’re young or if you’re old Love is not a contest; love is not a race Only love can answer the problems that we face" I hope that's right because I'm having trouble figuring out where my files are in the new Microsoft Word on Windows 11. I am going to close now, I hope someday you can hear this too, because it is actually a song. The words are not theological or definitive or anything, because I am just like you. I have found love to be a bit mysterious in some ways, and I will not comment further on the mysterious aspect of love. However, I will say that the best use of the word love, of course, is what the Apostle John wrote in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting love" (John 3:16). That is all I have for tonight.