Today my teacher asked our class one of society’s most debatable questions: "Is there such thing as love at first sight?" Some students said "yes" because sometimes you can look at someone and fall in love with them, but the majority were more hesitant. They said that you really have to know the person in order to love them and it takes more than just a simple glance. My belief is a little different than either of these, but in order to answer it, I have to first talk about what I believe the true definition of love is.

People today tend to define love as a feeling or an emotion, but I believe without a doubt that love is really an action. As a believer in Christ, I look to the Bible where we are told that love is the greatest commandment and the greatest thing of all. The Bible lays out a pretty clear definition of what love is in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 where it says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease--where there are tongues, they will be stilled--where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” The kind of love that the bible talks about is the love that I want in my life and, in order to have it, I must view it as an action. All of the things that 1 Corinthians tells us that love is about are actions that we must take on a daily basis in order to live out love. I think a better term for the world’s definition of love would be affection, endearment or maybe even infatuation, all of which would likely take more of a relationship to feel.

So now that I have established what I believe the true meaning of love is, how do I answer the question, “Is love at first sight real?” Love, as the world defines it, probably cannot happen at first sight because all the connections and emotions come after you really get to know someone. Love, as the Bible defines it, though, can happen and has happened at first sight. In fact, the greatest act of love that has ever occurred happened not only at first sight, but at first thought! Jesus thought of each of us before we were even born and went through with the greatest act of love that this earth has ever seen! Not to mention the many other acts of love that He performed along the way. As for us, we must live out the same kind of actions to everyone that we meet. We must live out the action of love just like He did, to everyone at first sight and at first thought. After we grow closer to a person and the affection starts to grow, we begin to take on the feelings of the world’s definition of love. Then, it’s important also, that we continue to live love out as an action in order to make our relationship work.

One comment that a girl in my class made was that in her grandparent’s time if you were going to be with someone you were going to stay with them and always work it out because that’s what everyone always did. She thought that if they would have waited and not “settled,” then they could have found someone that they truly loved. Now, while I believe that there are definitely circumstances where it is important that we do not settle for less than what we deserve and that we get out of relationships that are harmful to us, I believe that it is equally important that we realize that nobody is going to be perfect.

I think that our grandparent’s generation got it right whenever they decided to stay together through the hard times and continued to love each other whenever the feelings of love (or affection) wore off. When we are upset with our partners it tends to feel harder to love them, but that’s where the importance of the action of love plays a huge role.

At the end of the day, whenever I tell someone that I love them, I am telling them that I am going to love them in a 1 Corinthians 13 kind-of-way, the way that Jesus loves people, strangers and friends alike! I am telling them that I am choosing to love them at first sight. I am promising to my significant other that throughout the entire process I am striving to love them the way Jesus would want me to and to take the actions necessary in order to love someone the way God intended love to be. Is there such thing as love at first sight? By the world’s definition that can be debatable and likely, it is not, but by God’s definition, by all means, it should be!