Love is not a feeling. Love is a choice. Knowing you would do anything for someone else, that’s love. Loving someone is not all about enjoying time spent together, although this is a part of love. Loving someone is not about any superficial thing one may think. Choosing to love someone with your whole heart takes sacrifice and maturity.

We can never love as much as the Father loves us, but we can try to reach that level of ultimate love here on Earth.

Love is not selfish. It can’t be. A relationship with love is not a “give and take” relationship. A truly loving relationship is a “give and give” one. There can be no take in love. When you love someone, you want what is best for them, what will ultimately help their well-being. This can have no selfish motives. It can be hard for some to understand how much of a sacrifice it is to love someone. You have to always put the other first, without neglecting yourself of course.

Choosing to love someone means you understand that they will have faults, and not only do you accept these faults, you rejoice in them. They give you opportunities to love as He loves us. To look past the mistakes and have mercy and be patient. Love is patient. It’s very definition proves this: “God is love” (1 John 4: 8.) Who is more patient than God?

Times may get tough, and you may fight. The future may seem hopeless, but you must remember that if your love is true, and your love is strong, you can conquer it. “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13: 7). Love may be tested, but true love in the imitation of our Father is never broken.

Love must also be humble. A true humble love is the type of love God had in mind for us. He does not want a show for everyone to see that behind closed doors is hollow. “Let love be sincere” (Rom 12: 9). He wants full love expressed in great and meaningful ways. “Love is not pompous, it is not inflated” (1 Cor 13: 4). You should not have to show off your love in grandiose ways. If you truly love someone there is no need to. Others will be able to see the love you have for one another.

Choosing to truly love someone is not an easy task. It involves taking a look at your own life and seeing what changes you need to make to help each other. It requires motivation and a kind heart. It takes time. Time to know one another, time to know their faults and virtues, and time to accept them as there are. To meet them where they are. Love is not something to gain impulsively or to throw away at the first sign of a problem. True love must be stronger than that.

Choosing to love means choosing to grow with another person. When you love another person, you are going through the journey of life with them. You have to be patient, and most of all understanding. It may test you, and it make require changes, but in the end, you will find it is worth everything. Love is the most important thing we can share with someone whether it be here on Earth or with God. “So faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13: 13).