I LOVE YOU is in fact....I LOVE MYSELF and I WANT YOU!(self-centered, selfish, I, Me )
I have grown up in a world that offers a plethora definitions of what love is....what none come close to explaining what it really is...
Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 gives us the true insight of what LOVE is
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It 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. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Look to the Cross and you will find and see LOVE. The LOVE of Jesus Christ for us sinners.
What does it mean then to be a Christian?
If you want your life to count for Jesus Christ, you have to LOVE the way Jesus LOVE us. But you won't be able to love this way if the Holy Spirit is not in you.
To LOVE in this way is not dependent on one's personality, background, circumstances, etc It depends on the HOLY SPIRIT and the fruits of the Holy Spirit in all TRUE believers!
Since the Spirit is in all true believers, we can strive towards this seemingly "lofty" goal.
When we fail to love this way at times, which we will, since Jesus is the only One who can love us in this manner forever, we must go to the CROSS to confess our sins, cleanse us of unrighteousness and repent. The Blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cleanse us of all these Sins.
