This is an indepth study concerning the different catagories of Love and how they can affect our lives and family.
Love is A Commitment
Love can be described as one of the most powerful emotions that can be experienced. Love is an action word describing an emotion with differing degrees of intensity.
Sometimes people use this word to pledge their love to a husband or wife stating that they will love them until their dying breath.
Humans are known to be emotional people that are born with a craving to be loved. The Holy Bible speaks of love and informs us that God is Love. For Christian believers, love is the true test of genuine faith.
The key to finding the love we are looking for is hidden in God's original design of our bodies and soul.
Beloved, there are four categories of love found in the Holy Scriptures defining the action word love. These four categories are communicated through the Greek words: Eros, Storge, Phileo, and Agape.
In this study, we will explore the different types of love characterized as romantic love, family love, brotherly love, and God's divine love including the definition of love and what it really means to be loved. Let’s begin this story by doing a study on love and glean some understanding of how it can and does affect our lives.
Love is More than a Feeling
Have you had deep feelings of love for someone and in return they take you for granted and treat you as though you do not exist.
This is what we call one sided love.
Have you ever felt like a spare part in someone else's life?
There are a variety of circumstances that can make a relationship feel as if it's one sided.
Have you ever caught yourself being the one that is making the plans, investments, and doing the errands while your partner is ambivalent or apathetic?
This kind of love can be painful and cause stress in a relationship or marriage.
Loving someone that does not love you can be one of the most painful and degrading relationships that can lead to severe depression. Not all relationships start out one-sided, but some can end this way.
Some people crave to be loved and when they find someone showing interest in them they grasp the emotion and hang on as if there is no tomorrow. They start acting on impulse instead of reasoning and fail to recognize their partner's less intense feelings of slight infatuation.
It is easy to be blinded by the signs of a one-sided romance. A one sided love has been known to trigger extremely painful emotions.
Dear ones, It may be painful but just the recognition that your relationship comes under this category is all that is needed to help you make some necessary choices.
People trapped in this type of love find themselves asking the questions, will they change or do I need to move on?
It can be difficult to stay in a relationship that most would define as being unworkable.
When you find yourself involved in a relationship that is not mutual, the result can be painful for both of you especially for the one who is more committed to the relationship. Making an attempt to change your partner’s attitude toward you without his or her consent can lead to a failed relationship.
Why do so many people find themselves in one-sided love affairs which usually start in the form of rebound relationships?
People tend to settle for second best and fail to realize that there are many good people in the world waiting for the right person to come into their lives.
Why are some people prone to choose the first good looking thing that comes along? Let's face it, some people hate to be rejected suffer from low self-esteem.
Some suffer physically because of a past relationship that left them degraded and mistreated. This type of abuse usually scars them for life and unless they can get some help they will only hurt others.
A Love Proned Lover
A love prone person is one that falls in love in such a way that they tend to act as though they have no control whatsoever over their emotions.
This type of love could best be described as love at first sight. This type of love captures the heart and soul of a person and causes their emotions to work overtime.
Sometimes it feels great to experience feelings that are fantasy-based such as becoming involved with someone in a spontaneous way however the downside of this is waking up to realize that whatever it is you are fantasizing about will not proceed any further. The relationship can become painful when you start making demands that your fantasy go further and you realize the other person is not ready to go there.
A love prone person is vulnerable because they need someone and sometimes anyone in their life because they are afraid of being alone.
The word “vulnerability” literally means weak or the inability to make a choice.
Couples that make up a good relationship are those that work a steady job and are not dependent on the other person to make them happy. They have developed a level of trust between them and are mature in their relationship.
What is Eros Love
The word Eros is the Greek word for sensual or romantic love.
The term originated from the mythological Greek goddess of love, sexual desire, physical attraction, and physical love.
This kind of love is very intense and passionate.
Eros lovers fall in love early in a relationship and desire to know and share everything with each other. They view their partner in an idealized manner and express a strong reaction of depression if something happens that would cause them to be separated.
What is Family Love
The Greek word Storge can be defined as family love. Family love is a steadfast love that arrives easily and endures for a lifetime
Family love is like the bond that naturally forms between parents and their children and has been known to develop between siblings in the same household.
Family love can best be described as a love that takes place between a husband and wife however this kind of love is not passionate or erotic but can be described as a familiar love.
This type of love can be the result of living together day after day and settling into each other’s rhythms because it develops slowly and grows out of mutual understanding including respect and concern for one another.
Family love can best be defined as an enduring love with stability and its reaction to criticism from a partner is to compromise where possible in-order to work things out
What is Brotherly Love
The Greek word Phileo means brotherly love. Phileo love can be defined as a strong mutual affection occurring between friends or compatriots.
The modern city of Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love. Phileo describes an emotional connection that goes beyond acquaintances or casual friendships because it is a powerful bond that forms community and offers multiple benefits to those who share it.
Phileo or brotherly love describes relationships in which people genuinely like and care for one another.
What is Agape Love
Agape love can be defined as God's divine love or a love that is a unconditional without bounds or limitations.
Agape love is the most powerful and noble type of love and can better be defined as a sacrificial love. Agape is the term that defines God's immeasurable and incomparable love for humankind.
Agape love is an ongoing and outgoing love that can best be described as a self-sacrificing love. The bible declares that God gives this love without condition to those who are undeserving and inferior to himself.
Agape love is spontaneous and heedless because it is not established upon merit and does not determine beforehand if love should be withheld in any given case.
One important aspect to note concerning Agape Love is that it extends beyond emotions. Agape love can be defined as being more than a feeling or sentiment because it is an act of the will of the one extending love.
Agape love is an active love that demonstrates love through actions.
The closest comparison that can be found on Earth that would define this love would be the love of a mother for their infant child.
A mother loves their child more than their own life and if the need arises, she would not think twice to give her life to save her child. That child is her life and no matter how old the child may become, it will always be a child in mom’s eyes and heart.
The child may grow up and get in trouble with the law but in her heart this is still her child.
There is nothing that can be found on Earth that can compare to the touch of a mother. It is like the touch of God because it is a love without limitations and bounds.
A child can be sick and be unresponsive if visited by their dad, uncle or a distant relative but when mom walks in the room the child will respond with a smile.
It has been documented that a sick child will begin to show signs of recovery after mom has washed it and kissed its forehead with Agape love.
There is a very popular scripture found in the Holy Bible that best describes God's love and I shall post it for you to enjoy.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).
This is what I call love in the third degree because it shows God's unconditional love for his greatest creation. Out of all that was created, mankind is the only creation that God stated he loved.
This my friend is love worth finding. Our bank accounts, relationships, and yes marriages may fail but we can be sure and know that God's Agape unconditional love is forever.
My Conclusion
FEBRUARY is recognized as the love month and many couples choose that date to have their wedding ceremony.
We use the word love in all kinds of contexts such as I love chocolate, or I love watching football including telling someone that we love going to the beach. How is the word love used in this setting?
Many singers have titled their songs after love such as "I lost that loving feeling" including others such as "If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right" and what about the song "Whats love got to do with it, it's just a second hand emotion and the song goes to ask who needs a heart when a heart can be broken."
It appears the writer of this song has not had a good relationship and is expressing their feeling through the lyrics of their song.
Some people fall in and out of love like falling out of a tree.
Do we ever stop and consider the true meaning of love? What about the unconditional love God has for each of us as his creation?
We can find this love displayed throughout the bible and yet, I think so many times that we simply glance at the words and never stop to think about the true implications.
We know well the incredible words describing love in the scriptures which are often used in the ceremony of marriage, but do we apply them to our lives that we can be an influence to the world and those around us?
Let's motivate ourselves to become a love filled person and realize that we were not a mistake but a unique people created by a loving God that has great plans for our life.
Because we were created in his image and likeness, we need to realize that he loves us with an unshakable love that can never change.
Let us go on to perfection and allow him to shape this love in our life that we may be a reflection of him who loved us and gave himself for us that we may show forth his love that is shed abroad in our hearts to a hurting world that is looking for answers.
A good understanding of love, and very well explained. I have over the years, come to realize in my heart, that love is the purpose and plan of God, the goal of The Lord for humankind. The rest of life...the stage, props and supporting things.
Hope you keep writing, because this is so needed, in this world, and so desired by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Love all with out expecting any thing from others . Loving is the nature of human beings. Love can manifest into divinity and bliss. Mother Theresa is the best example loving human beings without any barriers.
It's almost Christmas. Lynn Basil is writing her last book about a secret entrance into the magical doll land of Sha Bebe that she loves so much. Bagannos have taken over the world! Lynn finally meets her dolls in real life. Can she write in a Secret
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Love is A Commitment
