Biblical Answer

The Fleeting Nature of Emotional Love

Emotional love, which is often described as the initial infatuation or attraction towards someone, can indeed turn to dust in our daily lives. This is because emotional love is often based on feelings that are subject to fluctuations. When the initial emotional explosion dies down, the better satisfaction of real love, which is the engine that runs lifelong marriages, may not be reached. As the author notes, "much like picking a flower, I may enjoy its beauty for a while, but a flower today is not the same as a flower yesterday." This highlights the ephemeral nature of emotional love, which can quickly fade away.

The Importance of Choosing to Love

However, the author suggests that love can also be a choice. By choosing to love someone, we can transform our emotional love into a deeper, more lasting kind of love. This is in line with the idea that love is not just a feeling, but also a decision. As the author notes, "is it not very largely in our own choice whether this love shall, or shall not, turn into what we call being in love?" By making a conscious decision to love someone, we can cultivate a deeper kind of love that is not subject to fluctuations.

The Unchanging Nature of God's Love

The author also draws a contrast between human love and God's love. While human love can turn to dust, God's love is unchanging and gratuitous. God's love is not based on the attractiveness of its object, but rather on His own nature. This love is a guarantee that we can never be lost, and it keeps a faster hold of us than we do of it. As the author notes, "if you were to reflect God's mercy more fully, for whom among those you know would you not love?" This highlights the importance of understanding and reflecting God's love in our own lives, and how this can lead to a deeper and more lasting kind of love.