I Choose Love: How to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780802437891)

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -Victor Hugo.

Human beings have a deep, hardwired desire to belong, to be accepted, safe, valued, and the object of someone's affection, just for who we are. It's the stuff of poetry, music, and movies. Yet love is primarily viewed in our culture as something that happens to me and of which I have great desire but little control. I Choose Love challenges this premise at its core.

Love is far from something that might happen someday, someway, if everything goes your way . . . but instead, Chip Ingram shows, it's something you can choose to experience. This book is about choosing love--a love that the Bible calls agape love. This is the kind of love God has for people. It's the love that's characterized primarily not by our feelings or emotions, but by sacrifice and putting others' best interests at heart--this love gives, serves, obeys, and cares. It's not emotionless, sterile, or stoic; but it's also not built on feelings, romantic notions, or erotic expectations.

We've all experienced the heartache that follows failures to love. But God promises that "love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8). Join esteemed Bible teacher Chip Ingram and explore this invitation to choose love!

If you long to be loved and experience the love of God; if you long to get some real, practical help to discover and apply agape love and see it transform all the other types of love, then this book is for you.