What's Love...

“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”-1 John 2:10

In June of 1984, Tina Turner released her song “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. In 1993 the song title became the title of Turner’s biopic starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. It is a great song and the song itself was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Just a side note: Her hair is AWESOME!

The song title and chorus raise a great question for our life: What does love have to do with it? In the Christian life, it means everything! We have all heard John 3:16 and we understand it to be the purpose of Jesus coming to earth to walk amongst His creation. It establishes the very reason God decided to send His Son to sacrifice His life for those who decided to live apart from their creator and why we must look to Him for the very example we need of real love.

In the NIV the word love is mentioned in some form (i.e. love, loved, loves) almost 700 times. In the New Testament alone it is used over 200 times. This is significant due to the New Testament primarily being focused on the new relationship being established between the creation and God through His Son Jesus. Love is what defines Christianity. It defines our faith and who we are supposed to be in and to the world around us. Jesus even says that the world will recognize who we are as His followers by the way we love each other.

Love is the message of reconciliation. Love is the message that has been sent through Jesus to us by our Father. Love is the message that we need to be sending to each other and everyone around us. Tina Turner’s chorus says “What’s love, but a secondhand emotion”, but for the disciple of Christ, it comes first and foremost. She also says “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken”, well, when we truly love people our heart will break for them; so I guess she is right. However, it is no wonder that the very God who hurts when His creation hurts created a heart in our chest that breaks when others are in need.

Ultimately, to answer the question posed by Ms. Turner, Love has everything to do with it and we must live in this world showing and giving it the way Christ modeled.