Three More Words That Make the World Go Round

What do you think is the greatest word of all time – the “GWOAT”? Any ideas? According to a poll conducted by Dictionary.com, it’s a word we’ve all come to know and love: LOVE. There were other words that received votes, but apparently folks just love “love.”

 

Based on this unscientific study, it would seem reasonable to assume that the same voters would favor “I love you” as the greatest trio of words of all time. My last post dealt with three words that I believe are the most momentous of all time: “It is finished.” But these other three little words – “I love you” – expressed probably millions of times every day, are nearly as impactful. Who doesn’t like to hear them?

Being a writer, I think about words a lot. It strikes me that even in its simplicity, “I love you” carries a host of connotations. “Love makes the world go round,” the old pop tune told us, but what do we really mean when we say that?

 

Because we can love our spouse or significant other. We can love our children. We can love our dog (or cat if that’s your preference). We can love our job or career. We can love our house or the neighborhood in which we live. We can love seeing a brilliant sunrise or a spectacular sunset. We can love our favorite sports team. We can love travel. But the “love” we reference in each situation is different from all of the others.

 

Some languages, like Greek, manage to separate the meanings of a word like love, using terms like eros, agape, philia, storge and others to clarify what one loves and in what ways. In English, however, we basically have just one word – love – whose meaning is largely determined by context.

 

Even when someone says, “I love you,” we can’t always assume we know what they mean. Because it’s rarely a stand-alone phrase. We might mean, “I love you because…” – because of how someone makes us feel; what they do for us; how they look, or a variety of other reasons.

 

Someone saying “I love you” might mean “I love you if…” – if we do what they ask of us; if we behave in a certain way; if we meet their expectations, or many other things. This “love” is largely performance-based. The same holds true for the form of “I love you” that really means “I love you when….” It also is largely conditional.

 

As I’ve pored over the Scriptures through the years, I’ve found God saying to us, “I love you” in a very different way. It’s not based on “if” or “because” or “when.” He says, “I love you…period.” No conditions or expectations attached.

 

When we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), Jesus’ declaration didn’t include any conditional words such as if, because, or when.

 

In fact, another verse makes it all the more clear that God’s love is unconditional. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Chronologically speaking, not one of us had committed our first sin when Jesus died on the cross – because we hadn’t been born yet. Not even a gleam in anyone’s eye at that point. We know the Lord wasn’t waiting for us to clean up our act first.

 

Another time Jesus told His followers, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This wasn’t some random philosophical statement. At this point in His ministry, Jesus had His sights unwaveringly set on Jerusalem and the sacrifice of His own life for our sins. Again, He added no stipulations or conditions.

 

We must never forget this. When we say, “I love you,” we may mean this in a variety of ways for a number of different reasons. But God’s “I love you” carries with it no caveats, no ifs or maybes.

The apostle John wrote, “How great the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are…” (1 John 3:1). It’s a love available to us all, to any of us, simply by accepting it – without conditions. How great is that?