The title of this article may send your mind racing back to Tina Turner’s 1984 classic hit or to the 1993 blockbuster motion picture documenting her struggle and rise to success in the music industry. However, this question is far more than a classic music tune or memorable film. This question, or rather the answer to this question is pivotal to determining our well-being as individuals, our well-being in relationships, and our well-being in society as a whole. Our answer to this question reveals the true reason behind why we do what we do and why we treat each other the way that we do. The most important thing to understand about love is that love is an action, not a feeling. The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave…” God loved the world so much that he did something! Immediately, we discover that love causes us to do something. Love causes us to leap into action. Love causes us to give. So, someone can’t say that they love you yet all they ever do is take from you. The Bible does not say, “For God so loved the world that he took…” If we say we love someone, we should find ourselves giving to that someone. If someone says that they love us, we should find them giving to us – giving time, giving encouragement, giving a listening ear, giving understanding, giving a hug, giving comfort, giving safety, giving something. Why? Because love gives. Now it becomes clear what love has to do with it. In a word, “Everything!” Why? Because true love causes us to treat each other with kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, patience, goodness, joy, and peace. So, what’s love got to do with it? Everything! It’s the difference between being healthy and properly functioning or unhealthy and struggling unnecessarily.
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