“Love is a feeling that you feel when you feel a feeling you have never felt before.”

This was printed on Karl’s t-shirt as he walked confidently on his way to his Math class.

Karl was a freshman in college.  He graduated from high school with honors, had some close friends who respected him, neighborhood pals who looked up to him because he was smart, and had parents who were proud of him.  It seemed he had everything going for him and it seemed that his success in his chosen career path was assured.

However, there was something that bothered Karl, something that kept him awake at night, something that seemed hollow deep within his being.  At first he did not recognize what it was, but when he did, he knew what he had to do.

Karl was lonely… And he had to find the cure for this… this… condition so that all would be right with his universe once again.

Fortunately, there was this co-ed he had a crush on the first time he saw her in class. Mary also was an outstanding student, also graduated with honors from high school, and always seemed to have that confident smile that seemed to light up the faces of whoever she was conversing with.

So Karl started dating her. After a few weeks, it was obvious that they were a couple.

However, Mary started doubting her feelings for Karl. After realizing that she was not really ready for where the relationship was heading, she broke up with Karl.

Devastated, Karl stopped attending his classes and as a result, failed in all of his grades and was forced to drop out of school.

He never saw Mary again.

The lesson: love is not a feeling.

Feelings come and go.  They are very inconsistent and thus too unreliable to be equated with true love. Mary recognized this, discontinued the relationship, and went on to have a good life.  Karl on the other hand saw love as merely a means to end his loneliness.  Karl’s “love” for Mary was not true love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes what love is like:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

If you are thinking of entering into a relationship with someone, put your “love” to the test.  Does your definition of love square with 1 Corinthians 13 or is it more in keeping with what was written on Karl’s shirt?