This reminds me of my life verse: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 While personally, I am almost always ready to sacrifice my life for another (Which explains why I've always wanted to be a police officer), I've always had the feeling that this verse is more of a spiritual representation of love. It brings to mind the passage (I forget which one) where Paul mentions that if he could, he would give up his eternal life if it would mean that his friends would be able to go to heaven. While it's kind of obvious that's not possible for us to do, it is a perfect representation of Christ's love for us, and it has always been a goal of mine to try and feel that way about everyone that I meet. Now, my actions don't always reflect this, but I do often think about it...
Now, I have a feeling this thread is more about the love one has for a person of the opposite gender... In this respect, I have also "felt" like I loved someone else, but I believe my feelings were a bit premature. My thoughts on loving someone come from the places in the Bible where it talks about how a man should honor his wife and cherish her like a hidden treasure and other things similar to that. As somewhat mentioned before, I also know that both people in a relationship should be willing to sacrifice anything that doesn't align with what God is leading you to do. The Bible is quite clear on what love should look like, both for other people, as well as the relationship between a man an a woman. I feel that my feelings were premature because I'm still young. Neither I, nor the other person could possibly be able to enter a godly relationship at this time. Sure, our paths continually cross, but God is leading both of us to pursue higher education right at this moment, and with that, we will be physically separated for some time. Where I think Biblical love comes in is that I can recognize this and I can wait until God allows the time to be right, if the time truly will ever be right. Putting God first is the best way to show your love for someone else, so in this respect, yeah, I've "felt" love.
Pursue God, and the rest will follow.
-C_S
