Love Is God's LanguageChikamu

Ahavah

In our culture, the word love is thrown around so freely and in the process loses its weight. We say things like, "I love that restaurant" or "I love that actor" or "I fell in love immediately, it was love at first sight." "I love that car or house." Love it seems has become so casual and is taken lightly. The way we use the word love, it suggests that love is temporary because when the next new thing or person comes around, we can forget the old and be in a new love relationship. Unfortunately, this is the world, but if you have been searching out a relationship with God, and the family of God you will understand that love is so much more than what is presented to us by our culture of the day.

In the Hebrew language, the word for love is "Ahavah, " and it is very beautiful in meaning. The root word for Ahavah is ahav, and it means, "To give," so it is understood as "I give" and "I love" (Bloomfield). Love is, therefore, more than a feeling; it is an action word as well and is accompanied with giving. Bloomfield also states, "Love is giving. Not only is love giving, but the actual process of giving develops the very connection between the giver and the receiver." I find the truth embedded in this statement to be revolutionary because we live in a world where technology while it has excellent benefits also has the power to work against us. We have found ourselves caught in the worldwide web with so many connections yet we are still so disconnected from human touch and face to face conversations. While we enjoy hundreds of friendships on social media, we do not understand those people, and we must go with what they show us on their profiles. We have watered down our relationships to texts communications only because face to face meeting will only draw down on our time and it will mean we must be involved and give some of our time and attention away.

"Giving is a condition that creates and sustains love. Without giving, there is no connection that is sustaining, and true relationships that are meaningful in our lives are those in which mutual giving take place" (Bloomfield).

From this statement we can see that no relationship will ever be sustained unless we will give and keep on giving to the people we are involved with. Ahavah is the love by which God lives and exist; it's a love that cannot be earned and it is a love that keeps on giving. In the Old Testament time and time again God showed his people Ahavah, he loved them unconditionally, and he asked that they show that love to others. Perhaps you are in a relationship today on rocky ground, I want to encourage you to start the change in your relationship by asking yourself, "How can I Ahavah this person in my life today, what can I give to them?"

Declaration: Today I will practice Ahavah (giving) to the people in my life.