Since this is a Christian blog, I will let the scriptures answer the question:
First and foremost Love is a person. Love is God according to 1John4:8. Secondly it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of Love (Gal 5:22). So what is love? What does it look like?
Love is kind. Love suffers long; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” -1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13
1If I speak in the tonguesa of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and allknowledge, and if I have afaith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,b but have not love, I gainnothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.(1Cor 13)
The obvious question is how can anyone love like this? The answer is also answered by the scripture. It’s found in:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So can anyone love like this? No. Only those who have the Spirit of God to enable them to do so. Love is not just a feeling. It is a person (1 John 4:8) and we manifest Him and His attributes to our family friends and environment as we choose to allow His spirit to bear that fruit through our spirits in willing partnership with His spirit. Love begins with a choice to love.
