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and the person loved. Both have something in common. The one loving finds reflected in the person he loves, his own nature. This love is one of liking -- an affection that is the outgoing delight to that which affords him pleasure. It is a non-ethical, mutual attraction that carries no obligation and makes no ethical demands on the person loving, as long as the person loved affords him pleasure. It demands no sacrifice from the one loving for the benefit of the one he loves. It is a reciprocal love, proper and legitimate. No standards of right or wrong are set by it as long as mutual pleasure exists; hence it is a love that loves those who are like themselves, and is, in the final analysis, a love of self.
In the New Testament it appears as the kind of love the world has for its own -- the normal affection of a young woman for her husband and children; the normal affection of a child for his mother and father; the affection of a parent for his son or daughter. Judas expressed it for Jesus, and so did Peter. It is the common word to express the sentiments that exist between friends, and for our purpose here, we shall simply define it as a "performance love." I call it "performance love" for it must ever be stimulated or die. It must ever seek to earn and merit the love it gets in return. The enjoyment and return of it depends wholly on the excellency of our ability to perform to the satisfaction of the one who loves us.
We have all experienced the heartbreak of this kind of love. We thought we had found true love
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