4. HOW DO YOU DEFINE LOVE? Most young people, boys and girls, claim being in love is the reason for having sex. Love is often charged as being a powerful motivator for behavior. Yet, how many of us can truly define what love is? From movies, to music, to poetry, love is perhaps the most talked about, sung or written about topic in all of history. Take these examples: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” – a line from the novel and the 1970 film Love Story starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal “Luv is a Verb …” – song and lyrics from dc Talk’s 1992 album, Free at Last “Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without….” – a line from the film Meet Joe Black, William Parrish (Sir Anthony Hopkins) to his daughter, Susan Parrish “I heard once that love is friendship on fire. That's how I feel about you. …” – from the film, The Perfect Man, by Ben Feldman’s Adam Forrest Most definitions of love make catchy song lyrics or great quotable movie lines, but do they hold up in the real world? If we apply these thoughts to our relationships and experiences, do they really show what love is? Love is one of the most intricate and powerful concepts in the world, and yet, in our experience, very few people seem to understand it. Most of us struggle to define what love is. Often at my (Josh) talks, I will go down into the audience, and ask parents, grandparents and pastors to define love for me. Even in an audience of pastors, there might be two in the whole room who could define it. Defining love is a critical step toward understanding God’s purpose and design for sex. After all, if you cannot define love, how do you know if you are in love? If you cannot define love, how do you know if you are being loved? If you cannot define love, how do you know if you have a loving, intimate relationship? If you cannot define love, how can you express love through sex? You can’t. And you can’t help your children recognize it, know it, experience it or express it, either. Definitions That Don’t Work
Manuscripts\Talk to your kids…\Book and Chapters\4.Define Love
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