Article submitted in my church for valentine day programme

If you were asked by someone what you want most in life, you are most likely to mention money, peace, good health and so on. It is highly unlikely that you would mention love; instead of love you might say a good husband or wife. The reason for these is the general believe in Nigeria that love can be purchased. How true that is really depends which side of the coin you are arguing from. But the truth is that love is probably the most abused term around. Anything can be defined as love these days, the only requirement seem to be the presence of a male and a female. What is love? Going through the Oxford advanced learners dictionary Love is defined as “A strong feeling of deep affection for……… The definition highlights a very important issue that shows the perception of what love is by the modern day man. Love is seen as nothing but feelings, that is why it is so easy for many people to walk away from there marriages. After all anybody can get there feelings hurt, and if love is all about feelings why should I stay there while you trample on my feelings. But did Jesus see love as feelings? He said you should love your neighbor as you love yourself. So it is quite obvious Jesus saw love as the totality of man. He made no exception; nothing must be kept aside. Jesus did not see any conditionality attached to love, you either love or you don’t. Recently I and a friend argued about the modern day wedding rite where “For better for worse” has been replaced with” for better for best”. He saw it as a proclamation of future good tidings I saw it as a declaration of fear. The fear of the cost of love has lead many girls into marriages solely for financial reason at the cost of happiness. The fear of the cost of love has lead many girls into prostitution believing God could not take care of there need. The fear of the cost of love has lead many guys into all sort of social vices just to satisfy a girl’s need. As St Paul wrote in Corinthians “True love is patient; love is kind; it is not envious or boastful. In the verse eight he pointed out that love never ends. So if you have true love you have no fear because you know that your father in heaven is always watching over you.