Love and the "Greatest expression of love"

Firstly, let me share with you a couple of verses before we look at what is said to be the Greatest expression of love.

"Life without love is worthless"(NASB)
1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Corinthians 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,but have not love, I gain nothing.

"Love is eternal"(NLT)
1 Corinthians 13:13 There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

We all know that love plays a very important role in everyone's life. We all claim we know how to love the people/person we love but are we doing it right? are we loving them the way they want to be loved or are we loving them the way we are comfortable with? Have we demonstrated the greatest expression of love?

So what is the greatest expression of love?

I googled the sentence "greatest expression of love" and I found many interesting ideas/thoughts on this issue. Seems to me alot of people are interested in this topic.

Rick Warren puts it very simply in his book "The Purpose Driven Life" that the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Here are some links to his resources.
http://www.bibleone.net/pdl16.html

http://books.google.com.my/books?id=wNa5nSu-7PoC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=The+importance+of+things+can+be+measured+by+how+much+time+we+are+willing+to+invest+in+them.&source=web&ots=kz2qoRmHW9&sig=6tqsG9Ke6_iybOPqwi4q01iaV3s&hl=en

This is quoted from Darla, a mother/housewife from this site.
http://bibleforums.org/forum/archive/index.php?t-24455.html
"Busyness is the enemy of relationships. Ironicaly, I often find myself so busy doing things for my family, that it cuts into the time I should be spending with them. The love that I show them and the time I spend with them is far more important than washing their clothes or cleaning their rooms. I need to remember this."

This is so true isn't it? Someone once asked a child the following question.
"Do you like all the toys that your parents gave you?"
He answered,
"I'm willing to give all of the toys away if dad and mum would spend more time with me."

Strangely and surprising enough, the question of what is the greatest expression of love was also asked in yahoo.com and of course answers to it can be found in answers.yahoo.com. Here are some interesting thoughts.

quoted from answers.yahoo.com
cooli0
I know it's cliche, but you can't really express the meaning of love, unless you're feeling it with the other person.I'll try anyways: I think the best expression of love, is when you don't even have to do anything, & all you do is look into that person's eyes, & know, positively, that they love you no matter what you do or what you look like. It's literally like a 'spark' where you don't even have to say a word, & you know that the two fit perfectly together, there's no better match.
alan
love is not measured by words being said, nor by gifts being given. its measured by how much you care for them, by giving your life. thats love for family and friends. but for someone you cant live w/o, it is measured on how much she/he means to you, by giving your life and how much effort you exert when you become one.

kamagong (best answer as voted by yahoo)
If you are committed to someone, be it a friend, a spouse or your child, then it encompasses all - the willingness to sacrifice for them, the accordance of respect due them, the deep concern for their well-being and the total giving of your time and energy for them. Love at its ultimate expression, nothing less!
the ultimate expression of love is risking or giving up one's life for the (sake of the) one he loves (i am not talking about suicide itself).

Other answers include.
- time
- complete acceptance of others, as they are
- unconditional
- giving up everything for them
- marriage
- Diamond Ring
- intimacy/sexual intercourse
- Roses/Chocolates/expensive gifts
- commitment
- etc

Let's just ponder on one of the answers above, which is "giving up everything for them".

The greatest example of one giving up everything for his friends is Christ.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13

We can never fully comprehend the spiritual aspect of Christ’s suffering and shame, but medical studies shed glimpses of light on the physical agony and all the horror that Jesus endured on the cross. Details of what He went thru can be found in the bible of course. This site gives a clearer picture/description of what our Lord went through.
http://www.blessedhopechapel.org/expressionoflove.html

Christ's ultimate expression of love was to sacrifice Himself for all. People who knew Him, yet to know Him, who liked Him, who hated Him. Some would argue and say of course He can do that coz He's God. There's nothing He can't do. But think again, He chose to live life as one of us. Suffered shame and humility, pain and more pain. Died the worst death ever. The most tormenting death sentence ever created by men, crucified on the cross. Yes, He's God and.... He did not need to go through all those but He did. God died for us. Think again, God, creator of heaven and earth, created you and I. He loved us so so much He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins. If this is not love, I seriously doubt the others are.

Well then again I'm not suggesting that we all die for each other without a reason but I'm just merely pointing out all the various answers/ideas/thoughts that people have regarding "The greatest expression of love".

This afternoon while I was driving home from the hospital, I received an SMS from aunty Joyce asking me about my current condition and how I'm coping with the breakup, etc. I told her I was ok and I'm happy coz the person I love is being cared 4 by God Himself, so what more can I ask? It strucked me when I typed the sms. I woke up and I realized I've been doing it all wrong, I mean not all wrong but the main thing I did not do in my relationship was to let go and let God. What I'm trying to say is when 2 people come into a relationship, they have their own individual lifestyle, different family upbringing, different background, different circles of friends, different temperament, different.. alot of things. Sometimes we try so hard to change or to control someone to live the life we live, we suffocate the person. Although it may be from a good intention to care and to protect someone, but the method implemented is totally a no-go. Over caring and over protecting will only cause the person to feel no longer happy and comfortable doing what he or she likes to do. In my relationship, I failed to put God as the center of the relationship. I failed to see that He will be the one taking care of all these nitty gritty things. He cares for her when she's not around me, He guides and directs her paths and He'll do the same for me. The more we force the person to do the things we do the more the person will want out. Being in a relationship is suppose to be living your life the way you want and getting the approval and the support from the other party but also having in mind that there's a commitment that you have to live up to and not letting the other party worry too much.

Joey Mcintyre's famous song, "Stay the same" says it all. The last few lines goes something like this.
And I hope you always stay the same
Cause there's nothing about you I would change
No there's nothing about you I would change
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn2dmUIelkQ

The main reason you love someone in a relationship is because he or she is who he or she is and not who you want him or her to be. Every girl and some guys paint a picture of how their future mate will be and sometimes though rarely, this person appears. And when this person appears, the first few months together is superb. Because of love, everything will be ok but after the years goes by, expectations arises and demands are throwed at each other. That is when you expect someone to change to suit you. Well, I have a sentence for you. Change yourself, change the world. If you want a change to take place, the first place to look at is not outside but within you.

I learnt my lesson the hard way but as I told aunty Joyce. Tho painful but fruitful. Hopefully just hopefully my future companion will benefit from what I've learnt.

From all said above, time, sacrifice, diamond ring, chocolates, etc, I would say the greatest expression of love would vary from one individual to another. In my case, mine would be the "complete acceptance of others, as they are". God accepted us as who we are so I have to learn to accept people for who they are and if they are not right in certain aspect, I'm not to criticise but I'm to play a supportive role to be there for them and to care for them the way that they can accept. Lesson to self, don't play God in someone's life. Let God be God.


Hmm.. seems like I'm going all over but I hope what I've shared benefits everyone who reads this. Long winded and maybe without an objective or purpose but I think some of you will be thinking of some aspects in your relationship with friends, family, loved ones, etc you may need to improve on. If you are thinking, then I think I did not write in vain.

cell is about to begin... better be downstairs. Hahaha. Cannot be anti-social.

I leave you with this letter. Known to be the greatest love letter ever written. It's now a historical document and it's known as the Sullivan Ballou letter (July 14, 1861)
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/ballou_letter.html

have fun reading..