What is Love?

During Week 2 we encountered some new information about the body and sex that might have been a bit overwhelming to digest. Before we go any further and look at the effects of sin on our sexuality, let's recap some main points, especially for those who missed TOB this past week.

The reason Adam and Eve were truly naked without shame is that they knew how to love, they knew their love imaged God, and they had no fear of being used. We are faced with the word "love" everywhere: music, sitcoms, movies etc, but do we know what LOVE really means? "Falling in love" is a tricky phrase, because if we can fall in love, can't we fall out of love? The awesome 90's band, DC Talk, coined a definition of love that gets us closer to the real thing: Love is a verb. Love is an action. It is not something we feel.

Love is choosing the greater good for the other.

Adam and Eve knew this and before "the fall" they never sought their own pleasure above the other. Adam and Eve also knew that their bodies imaged God: both apart and together. Their bodies image God in two ways:

1) Their bodies image the Trinity. Get this: God, the Father, pours Himself out and initiates love to Jesus, the Son. Jesus receives this love and gives Himself back to the Father. This love is so strong that it produces a third: The Holy Spirit. Adam's body was designed to initiate love to Eve. Eve's body was designed to receive Adam's body and in her perfect love to give herself back to him. This love is so profound that God allows a third to be brought in the equation: both grace and children.

2) Their bodies image our relationship with God in Heaven. Another way our bodies and sex image God is to point us to Heaven!!! In Heaven, God is united with us forever - us and God become ONE! God wanted us to know this and be aware of our destiny for Heaven that He stamped it in our very bodies. God, the Bridegroom, pours Himself out to humanity, His Bride. He are supposed to receive His love and, in freedom and obedience, return His love.

If we are to love as God loves, then what is God's love? God's love is:

Free, Total, Faithful, and Fruitful

Where have we heard these words before? In the marriage vows! This is why sex is reserved for marriage. Because sex, the two becoming one, images God, and God's love is Free, Total, Faithful, and Fruitful, then our love must be the same. The sexual act is actually the profession of the wedding vows with the body! This is why every time a married couple has sex they are renewing their wedding vows! Just as Christ told us He loved us, He also showed us in a very profound way - through His death on the Cross. This is why Jesus was crucified naked! To reveal that He is the Bridegroom and we are His Bride! If a couple has sex outside of marriage, they are telling a lie with their bodies. They are professing with their bodies something they have not professed with their mouths.

If only we could live without the fear of being used. If only we could love not only as God calls but as is written in our very bodies. Before the snake entered the garden and freedom was used to choose what was opposite of God, Adam and Eve lived and loved in a way that glorified God and brought them perfect happiness. Let us strive for this love so that we might bring glory to God and find perfect happiness, as well.