Been thinking a lot about love

This past Sunday the sermon topic was on love.

C.S. Lewis defined 4 types of love:

Affection (storge, στοργή) is fondness through familiarity, especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance.

Friendship (philia, φιλία) is a strong bond existing between people who share a common interest or activity.

Eros (ἔρως) is love in the sense of 'being in love'.

Caritas (agapē, ἀγάπη) is an unconditional love directed towards one's neighbor which is not dependent on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses. Agape is the love that brings forth caring regardless of circumstance. Lewis recognizes this as the greatest of loves.

In preparing for the worship this coming Sunday, we discussed that the topic of mate selection would be a primary focus of the teaching, and would flow well out of last week's message. It made me reflect on what the "love litmus test" would look like in choosing a mate well. Should the person you select as a mate embody all 4 of the loves described by Lewis?

And if Agape is described as the greatest of loves, certainly that would need to be the primary love involved in choosing a mate.

"The love that brings forth caring regardless of circumstance."

I suspect if you ask those who have chosen well, they would say that it is.