What Is Love?

February is the month that often focuses our minds on love and romance.  But what is love?  This is many times a hard question for us to answer because there are different types of love.  There are, in fact, four different types of love.The first type of love is eros (Greek) or yada (Hebrew) and refers to sexual love.  The second type of love is phileos (Greek) or ahabah (Hebrew) and refers to brotherly love.  It conveys affection or friendship.  An example of brotherly love was the love David and Jonathan had for each other.  The third type of love is storge (Greek) or, again, ahabah (Hebrew) and refers to family or tribal love.  It indicates a great affection.  The fourth type of love is agape (Greek) or chesed (Hebrew).  It describes a love that is self-sacrificing, one of unconditional commitment, and one that is steadfast regardless of circumstances.
 
Agape or chesed love is the God-kind of love.  It is the love that was instilled in our spirits when were born again by the Spirit of God.  And this self-sacrificing, unconditional and steadfast love is the love we are to nurture and cultivate in our lives so it will overflow to those we touch.