one that one translator said it required 35 English words to properly convey its meaning.  One of the shorter translations gives this:  "A self-sacrificial love, called out of the heart due to the preciousness of the object loved."

It is a love called out and bestowed freely upon the person loved by an awakened sense of value which causes the lover to prize him.  It is the love of approbation and esteem -- an impulsive love that recognizes the worth of its object, and this worth is in the heart of the lover.  The beauty of its beloved is in the eye of the beholder and lover, and is a complete devotion on the lover's part.  It is a love of ethical qualities, obligations, and responsibilities, and demands of the lover that he sacrifice himself for the benefit of the one he loves; love is not real unless it does.  This kind of love has to do with the heart, and so directs the will, the mind and the reason.  It has nothing whatever to do with the performance or lack of it on the part of the beloved; and in this fact alone lies the power of its unending nature.

The true and full definition of real love is given by the Apostle John:  "God is love."  It is not that God loves, but that He is love.  Love is the expression of His personality corresponding to His nature.  It is not a mere statement of His loving action toward you, nor of His tender feelings toward you, but of His true person.  God, then, is the true source of all real love.  Only those in whom He dwells can see another as God sees him, value him as God values him, and see what he may in Christ become.

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