I have just recently changed my "philosophy" of love. Icontinually see love being made into a combination of mere emotion and physical love. The word is commonly thrown around by teenagers and young adults. Humans use the word "love" to express feelings towards anything and everything.

Love has been lost in the appreciation we have towards an object, animal, or person or in the physical aspect of love. I see people holding hands and kissing their significant other when they say goodnight. But are those expressions really showing how much you love someone? Sure, they can, but I believe love is so much more than emotion or showing someone that you love them with a kiss.

I believe love is a commitment. If you ask anyone who has been happily married for any amount of time, they will tell you that there are ups and downs in marriage. Recently in Sunday School, my teacher proclaimed "Believe it or not, you won't always agree!" Well, what humans could agree about everything for the majority of their lives? Commitment to one another is what keeps two people happily married and still loving one another after many years of being together. Sure, the emotional and physical aspects of love are involved, but mostly, the couple is committed to being in love with each other, no matter what happens in life.

There is an even greater example of this commitment in the Bible. Everyone has read the "love chapter" from I Corinthians. It tells you exactly what love should be: patient, kind, not envious, and not boastful. However, there is another passage that depicts the commitment aspect of love.

In I John 4:7-21, you can read about the love that God has for us. Verse 10 says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." God sacrificed His Son so that we could have a relationship with Him. Beyond the ability of having a relationship with Him, God continues His love for us by loving us even though we still sin. God is fully committed to those who have a relationship with Him.

Although we separate ourselves with our sin, He continually loves and accepts us because He is committed to His children. God is love and the most perfect example of what love is: commitment.