All you need is love, love is all you need

Now I'm going to pose a question. A question that I know will drag up many opinions, ones that I would love to hear. Now the question is this.

Is it possible (from a biblical standpoint) to Love? if not, how can we say we believe in a loving God? if so, is it possible to love without the help of God?

Now I'm not talking about the gushy, make-you-feel-warm, emotional high type love that we, in this day and age, have made love out to be. I'm talking about the love that God has told us about. The love that is actions and not words, intentions and not thoughts.

The definition of love that I am thinking of comes from two different places.

John 14:21

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

AND

1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is now proud, it is not rude. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it holds no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Now I look at that list, and can't find a single thing that I can accomplish.

I hardly obey his commands
I'm not patient
I'm not kind
I envy
I boast
I'm proud
I'm rude
I'm self-seeking
I'm easily angered
I hold records of wrong
I delight in evil and hardly rejoice in the truth
I don't protect
I don't trust
I don't persevere

I fail at love

If love never fails, does that mean that if I fail at what ever love entails... I'm not loving? Or do I just have to complete a certain amount before I am loving? or do I just have to have tried before i qualify for the title of love?

Now that brings me to my next point. For what purpose do we exist for?

Love

Matthew 22:37

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments."


Ok, easy enough right? Love God. And what if I fail at love? I can't accomplish doing the single most important thing that I am on this earth to do.

So, if it isn't possible for me to truely love, that means I am unable to do what God has put me on this earth to do. What about trying to love? if you try to, yet don't really mean it... are you still loving?

Romans 12:9

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

This is one of the things I don't understand about Christianity. Everything around me, everything that I see in this world, tells me that I have to earn what I want. Nothing is free, nothing comes without at price. So obviously I am duped into thinking that I have to try and earn God's love. And how do I earn it? By loving him back.

I try to attain what is freely given, and for that I am a fool. I try to comprehend what is is irrasionable in my human eyes, and for that I am blind.

Then again, 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because he first loved us".

or even, 1 John 4:7 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God".

So is love something only attainable through the help of God? Is it something that must be bestowed upon us, like the holy spirit, before we can share it with others? and if so... what about non-christians? can they love? or is it just that fact that God made us and loves us, that we are able to love?

I don't really have any answers to all these question. I don't have the biblical knowledge to even begin trying to figure them out. All I know is...

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."