What is Love?

"Though I have all faith
so that I could remove mountains...
... and have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor...
... and though I give my body
to be burned...
... and have not love,
it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long and is kind.
Love envieth not.
Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
When I was a child, I spake as a child; I understood as a child; I thought as a child.
But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
But now abideth faith, hope, love... these three.
But the greatest of these is love."


As much as I love that quote from the movie, he leaves out a few things from 1 Corinthians that are just so beautiful so I have included the text (from the New American Bible) here:

1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3  If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  
8 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.  At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. 12 At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Now time to site the greatest of all informational websites, Wikipedia:
According to Wikipedia, when discussing 1 Corinthians 13...

Agape (is)...

• (verse 4)
  • is long suffering (i.e. tolerant, patient)
  • is kind
  • is free of jealousy, envy and pride
• (verse 5)
  • does not display unseemly behavior
  • is unselfish
  • is not touchy, fretful or resentful
  • takes no account of the evil done to it [outwardly ignores a suffered wrong]
• (verse 6)
  • hates evil
  • is associated with honesty
• (verse 7)
  • protects
  • trusts [implying faith in God and trusting in righteousness]
  • hopes
  • perseveres
• (verse 8)
  • triumphs
• (verse 13)
  • is greater than either faith or hope

Isn't the juxtaposition between verses 7 and 8 awesome?
Love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres... yet TRIUMPHS.
It is really great to know that "love never fails."


"Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."
1 John 4:8

Well, there's the answer.
We don't need to seek out love.  
It is right here.

It is God.