John MacArthur, On the Nature of Genuine Love

“Our world today has such mixed-up ideas about love – ideas that are far removed from the biblical definition of love. Musicians have written endlessly about love and the struggles people experience in relationships. Love is usually defined as an emotion that comes and goes, rises and falls, ebbs and flows. It’s described as a feeling that causes people to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t do. Love as portrayed in popular music and secular lore is not a sacrifice, a commitment, or a choice you make, but something that happens to you – you fall into it, or it sweeps you off your feet. People talk about waiting for love to come to them. They nurture romantic expectations about love that are untenable and unrealistic. They think of love in term of what it will give them instead of what authentic love requires. Virtually all the popular notions about love fostered by our entertainment-saturated, self-centered culture fall far short of the real thing.” (Being a Dad Who Leads, pgs. 18-19)