Thanks for the nudge Sam. I guess it’s time to finish.

Love. Poor love. Rightfully exalted above all other pursuits and yet simultaneously stripped of its clarity, its ability to be comprehended, and in turn, its usefulness. Alas, is this to be love’s fate? A sacred word for which there is no definition? A triumphant ideal that cannot find its place in the ebb and flow of daily life? Tragic, if true. For any thought, no matter how noble or true, that does not find expression is ultimately meaningless (chew on that for a bit).

So, I’ve suggested a quest for a synonym for love. One that could functionally replace love at every turn and, in turn, bring its own definition to love’s aid. Does such a word, such an idea exist? Yes.

Value.

Love is value. It is always, completely, and forever, an expression of value.

Now I hear the critiques rising. As is always the case when I suggest “value”, you romantics and mystics feel that I’ve cheapened love, or boxed it up too small, or drug it down into the lowly language of commerce, or robbed it of its dynamic quality by reducing it to a static set of numbers on a price tag hanging from an object in the marketplace. Not so. Or, if so, the only reason you may think it low of me is that you’ve not considered that the marketplace is anything but static. The marketplace is unquestionably the most dynamic human endeavor on the planet. They say economics make the world go round, and I say love (value) is the economy of the human soul.

It is evidenced in all that we say of love. Every time we are confronted with the demands of love we ask the same questions, “Will it be worth it?” “How much should I invest?” “What do I stand to lose?” “What will this cost me?” “What will I gain?” “Is this the best way to be spending my time?” When we say “I love you” what we’re essentially saying is “you are valuable”, “you are worth it”.

Christ knew this better than all. He constantly spoke kingdom realities in terms of the economics of the soul, asking, “What does it profit a man …?”, and describing the highest endeavors as a treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great price, talents invested yielding a return, counting the cost, and so on. Paul the tentmaker once said “love never fails.” I believe it’s true because love touches upon, affirms, and ignites hope in the intrinsic value of humanity.

In my opinion, Christendom’s oft clumziness in properly synthesizing the truth of preeminent human value with an understanding of our subsequent brokenness has led to all sorts of aberrant and abhorrent doctrines of depravity. To put it simply, sin may render us “useless” in varying degrees, but it cannot render us “worthless”. Perhaps all of this is best summarized by the most widely used quotation from Holy writ … “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son …” or, can you accept this translation … “God so values the world that He gave Himself to it”. We search for our “core values”. I believe the core values of the kingdom are “value God with all your heart, mind, …” and “value your neighbor as yourself”.

Perhaps there is more to love than value. Perhaps. All I will say in response is that as a true mystic, a hopeful romantic, a Christ follower, and a human, I need love to be nothing else, nothing more, than value. Let love’s mystery and beauty be wrapped up in its miraculous effects in the world, not in its inability to be understood.

Submitted in the hope that such a primal understanding gives you a handhold to better evaluate the “loves” of your life and how they are acted out. True love moves us to act.

Thanks for listening. Your thoughts?

Love, Dean