Why do we love?

So Baby Talk, Me.

In a social linguistics class I took before, we observed human speech patterns and it was noted that "baby talk" was a prominent feature among dating couples in particular, as a social marker for affection. Affection is something each and every human craves for. From the first loving touch by our parents when we enter the world down to simple gestures of care and concern we receive from our friends, we absorb attention showered us with open arms. It's inevitable that we look for love, especially when our home is miles away, the fearful thing is when we start looking for love in all the wrong places. What is love, anyway? Do we kid ourselves when every fleeting hearbeat is love? How can you love someone without getting to know him or her on a personal level? Just because he/she looks pleasant, sounds nice and has good qualities. Excuse me, how long have you known the person? 1hour? 1 day? 10 days? 1 month? The world speaks of: Love at first sight. Cynics balk and say- Lust at first sight and to a certain extent, I agree. It's beyond my comprehension how someone can "love" another individual without understanding the person for who he/ she is- good characteristics, flaws and idiosyncrasies. It's the whole package darling, not just the good bits. I don't think the love that we see in the movies or kind of love that society speaks about is really what love is all cracked out to be, at least i know that isn't the Lord's definition. Love- We think we know it or are we actually all like Shakespeare's deluded Romeo when he first cast his eyes on Rosaline- merely an individual, in love with love?

"Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love, we're spreading anomosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down
It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under
I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found

People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning: Where is the love?"
"Where is the love?", Black Eyed Peas

The catchy rap song, "Where is the love?" by Black Eyed Peas was on my mediaplayer repeat mode for a solid one week when it was at the peak of its popularity. It's a song that I feel that quite aptly encapsulated a question I ask myself when there is a dire need for peace and charity in this broken land. Where is the love? The answer is so simple yet it requires a great sacrifice on our part. The one and true love is found in God- our Father, our Saviour. Yet, the simple act- Loving God, is oddly enough the hardest thing for us to do.

Once you love God, loving Man (platonic/romantic) becomes so much easier to manage and handle. Oddly enough, our society's take on love has gone in all the wrong directions, it doesn't help that its rather glamarous these days for one to be sans religion either. I was recently posed the difficult question about why some christians end up in unequally yoked relationships. Despite having bore testament to such situations numerous times, I was reduced to mere murmers, rather stumped when it came to offering advice. Affairs of the heart is never an easy line particularly when one is more inclined to using his/her heart than her head. Keeping a logical mind has never been easier. It is pertinent that we do not downplay the insidious destructive power of worldliness, for nothing dilutes our ardour for the Lord like the disintegrating culture it propogates.

How does one define "unequally yoked"? Simply put, it means getting involved with someone on a romantic basis who does not share the same faith as us. However, there are also those that are more purist in nature might even urge us to take this one step further and urge our fellow brothers and sisters to look for partners that share at least the same sincerity in the christian faith. After all, there are some out there who are only Christians in name. I think before one heads into the relationship boat and join the "happy gang" sitting merrily on it, we ought to ask ourselves (as Michael Buble calls it) when this "crazy lil thing called love" strikes us, do we compromise on our faith?

I think the Scripture quite clearly dictates the Christian's stance towards the anti-God system of our world is clear. The Lord encourages his followers "do not belong to this world" (Jn 17:16). The apostle John instructs: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world" (1 Jn 2:15). Such is the Bible's unequivocal view. Christian obedience demands that one avoid the contaminating influence of the world. I was deeply impacted and humbled by the essence of the Oswald Chambers online QT that I was reading and I wish to share it with you to deliberate upon: "Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance but Spiritual darkness is the result of disobedience."

A dear sister-in-christ once told me: "We end up forgetting our first love- God." This statement I think aptly sums up the reason why many hearts are broken, why our hearts stray, why we land ourselves in unequally yoked relationships and even on certain occasions causing ourselves unnecessary self-inflicted hurt. It is my earnest and sincere prayer that the next time we singa a love song to God, the words will be ring more poignantly within us:

"Now I know I love you
I need you
Though my world may fall
I'll never let You Go
My Saviour, my closest Friend
I wil worship you until the very end."
"Jesus, Lover of my soul", Hillsongs

For those who are already in relationships, for those of us that might be in one in time to come, may we all hold each other accountable, constantly reminding each other that the greatest lover in our lives is God and before we take any step, we must always lift them up to the Lord in prayer.

To God be the Glory!