What is love?

A nice simple question to answer today, what is love? Why is this question important? - Let's start back to front, why is this question important - I think we are all looking for love, I don't mean just finding a life partner, I believe we all want to be happy and they way we find that happiness is to be fully loved. Watch a movie at the cinema and 9/10 films will be about a love story, or a story where good overcomes evil. For me cinema often depicts what is going on in our hearts, so why do we all look for love. I believe it is the way we have been made, that our hearts are yearning for this something, the bible says that God has written eternity on our hearts, a longing, a searching for happiness and love, we look in so many places but the bible says there is only one place to find it.
So, what is love? Is love being head over heels for someone who looks beautiful, if so what happens if there beauty is lost, is love when someone makes you really happy, if so what happens when that person makes you angry. Is love when someone follows a set of rules or obligations and the closer you follow those the more love you have? The bible defines love as - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. - Wow, where do we see this love? 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce in the UK, we have had the bloodest century since creation, we are scared to talk to people on the train on the way home from work. So where do we find this love, people often end up falling on pets these days, one of the reasons for this I think is that animals often love you unconditionally even if you forget to walk them they still run up to you tail wagging, even abused animals love their owners.
What we see in Jesus Christ is this very picture, someone who loves us even though we abuse him, someone who says I love you even though you turn away from me. He says I love you without condition. He laid down his life in your place. Imagine you are in the dock, the questions that the judge asks you is have you ever lied, ever stolen, ever looked at someone with lust, ever hated someone in your heart, of course we are guilty. We face the death penalty and in walks the person we have committed the offence against, Jesus, he walks up to you and says "I love you so much that I am willing to take your place if you will let me?" He offers you this sacrifice, so you don't have to face the consquences of what you have done, amazing. It is what the bible calls, grace, something we don't deserve. You see the love you are being offered here is not dependant on whether you are beautiful, whether you behave well enough, whether you live in the right part of town, whether you are nice to people, it simply depends on him, now that is true love. He gives you all that you are looking for, you do have to make a decision, you can remain in that dock and take the debt yourself, face hell on your own or you can turn to him accept his offer and let him love you with a depth that we can never fully fathom.
How do I know this is true, because he has given it to me, I have experienced it, tested the evidence in history, witnessed it in countless others and felt this love that has completely transformed my heart, my lifestyle, my living, my job, my girlfriend, my everything....just investigate it, he says those that seek will find him. - georgeosborn@avantiministries.com