Thought of the Day 02.24.09

Imagine a young woman looking into the eyes of her man, asking, “Sweetheart, do you love me?” “You know I do, honey,” he coos back. So she presses him by asking, “Sweetie, why do you love me?” What is a good answer to this question?

One approach is to list all of her virtues such as beauty, intelligence, and faith. In essence, “I love you because you are lovely.”

Another approach is to describe how she benefits him with happiness, pleasure, and encouragement. “I love you because you please me.”

Yet a third approach is to talk about his own flaws and explain how who she either fills or remedies them. “I love you because you complete me.”

But there’s a fourth approach which is quite different. Imagine him saying simply, “I love you because I love you.”

At first, this almost seems insulting, since there is no praise in it. But in reality, only this answer offers what she really wants: an unconditional love she cannot lose by becoming less lovely to him, less satisfying to him, or less compatible with him.

Interestingly, it is also God’s own explanation of His love in Deuteronomy 7:7-8.