I love you… how often do we say those three little words to our loved ones! What are we actually saying to the person we say these words to? While there are different kinds of love, such as love between a husband and wife, or love between brother and sister, or love between friends, the Bible has the true meaning of love. We see this description in 1 Corinthians 13.

The King James Bible uses the word "charity", which in the original Greek means "agape". This is the kind of love God has towards His Son and towards us. It is the kind of love God expects us to have toward each other. It is the kind of love that shows itself in action and comes from the nature of Christ. It is the fruit of the Spirit in Christians and also a love of choice. Christian love is expressed by our obedience to God. It is not an impulse feeling and does not always come naturally.

If we break down the verses in 1 Corinthians a little bit we can get some sort of picture of "agape" or Christ-like love.

Love suffers long.  It is longsuffering towards others. It goes above and beyond and it is longsuffering to others whether they deserve it or not. If we have this kind of love worked in us, then we will be able to be patient when someone is showing us their faults. We will be able to have compassion as Jesus did when someone is not acting in a godly way.

Love is kind.  In the original Greek, the word "kind" here means to treat one as one's kin; one's own family. Many times we treat our own families less than we do our friends. According to this verse, the kindness we must show towards others should be the same as we treat our families.

Love does not envy.  It is not bitter because another person has more, nor does it want what another person has. Love rejoices in the fortune and blessings of others.

Love does not vaunt itself.  It does not boast or make a display of SELF. Love does not want to be the center of attention. It looks out for the well being of others.

Love is not puffed up.  It is not demanding, nor does it push itself on another. It is not prideful and does not manifest itself for a prideful show of attention to get their way.

Love does not behave itself unseemingly or rudely.  How many times Christians behave themselves in a rude way towards others? This is selfish and is not putting the other person before themselves.

Love seeketh not her own.  Love does not set out to please SELF. Love cares more for the other person than themselves. Love is not me-oriented where everything you do is for yourself and to succumb to its desires and passions. Love doesn't seek what they want, but seeks to please God and others. This world today has a "looking out for number one" mentality, which is clearly against Scripture and is selfish and ungodly. Christ teaches us to be opposite of this and not to be like the world.

Love is not easily provoked.  Love is not easily angered to the point of verbal explosion. It is not quick-tempered. It does not fight back in retaliation or revenge. Love produces a prayerful attitude and does not provoke one to anger or revenge.

Love thinketh no evil.  This means "not ready to suspect evil". It thinks the best of others and sees the good in them. It does not look for faults in others or is not quick to point out the faults of others. It sees the potential in a person to do good and can look past their faults or character flaws.

Love rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.  Love is honest with others and loves the truth, which is Jesus Christ. Love rejoices to see others come to know Jesus Christ. Love has a burden for souls who do not accept Jesus Christ.

Love bears all things.  Whew! Did we read this correctly? ALL things? According to this verse love does four things:
     Love Bears
     Love Believes
     Love Hopes
     Love Endures

These are the actions expressed by love. If we can do all these things then the fruit of Christian agape love is evident in our lives.

Love never fails.  If we have agape love operating in our lives then we will never fail spiritually. There may be times we feel like failures, but if we truly love the Lord and have this gift of agape love, then in God's eyes we are not failures. We will not fail others if agape love is operating in our lives. God is love. He is the true meaning of it. We can look at this another way. How about when someone is bitter at us or we are hurt by someone else? We can choose to allow that bitterness and unforgiveness to help us to fail or we can love them in spite of all of it and bring healing because love never fails. When someone curses you Jesus said to bless them.  Why do you suppose Jesus said to do this? One reason is because love never fails!

According to 1 Corinthians 13, faith is great and hope is great; but out of these the greatest is love. Next time you use those three little words, I LOVE YOU, think about what you are really saying. Are you willing to lay down your life for that person? Are you willing to put them above yourself and what you want? Are they like family to you?

One of the fruits of the Spirit is this agape love. Are you someone that has this fruit on your spiritual tree for others to pick? If not, then allow Christ to love through you and then you will soon find the blessings of Christian love and the true meaning of laying down your life for others.