Morning Devotional

February 12, 2004

"Falling In Love" 

by Don Emmitte

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There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT).

If you were to ask a child to draw a valentine, what shape would the child draw? If you are thinking of a heart, you came up with the same answer that I did. Why a heart? Well, one reason might be for the artists, songwriters, and poets. In old versions of the Bible the word "bowel" was often used to depict love, such as in "let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men."  Can you imagine the headache for songwriters if the word "heart" had not replaced the word "bowel"? For example, "I left my bowels in San Francisco . . ."

Back to the question: Why the heart as a symbol? Is love something exclusively of the heart, a feeling? Another valentine tradition or drawing that we often see with the heart is Cupid with a bow and arrow. Why? Is love something that you are smitten with, something that strikes you like Cupid's arrow without any say so? Is it a game of chance like the tradition of the daisy: he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, HE LOVES ME? These are all interesting traditions that lead people into thinking that love is not a choice, that purpose plays no role in matters of love.

If we live in a world of purpose wouldn't it make sense that the most important decision made would be our choice of love? Somewhere in the history of the English language the expression "fall in love" began to be used to describe the “Cupid experience.” While it is a beautiful idiom, there was inherent risk involved in selecting the verb fall because it mostly means accidental, involuntary, with no choice involved. And subtly, it has also led to the use of its distressing corollary, "We fell out of love," an all too common phrase used nowadays as an excuse for a failed marriage. "Falling in love" and "falling out of love" are phrases that make love sound like something out of our control.

Many who feel they are falling out of love with their spouse throw their hands up in resignation as if they were victims of an outside influence that controls them. They begin to wonder, "Do I really want to be married to this man (or woman) for eternity?" Having fallen out of love, as they suppose, they begin to drift apart, often saying things to hurt one another. "I don't love you anymore" is a common assertion. They tolerate one another for the children's sake, resenting one another; or they separate, believing their differences to be irreconcilable. The result is a damaged or destroyed family, another casualty of Satan's assault on the home.

It isn't so much "falling in love" as it is "rising in love." It is a love of growing affinity and attraction toward another, like budding blossoms that flower into a beautiful bouquet. It really is a conscious choice. That is how Paul could say, “…the greatest of these is love.” Renew your choice today to love completely and unconditionally.