Selfish Love

Ok, I have one more quote from Vanity Fair. I promise, last one. Check it out: 

"He had placed himself at her feet so long that the poor little woman had been accustomed to trample upon him. She didn't wish to marry him, but she wished to keep him. She wished to give him nothing, but that he should give her all. It is a bargain not unfrequently levied in love."

From chapter 66 ("Amantium Irae") on page 662.

Read that last line again: "It is a bargain not unfrequently levied in love."

Is this love? Treating someone like a doormat? Expecting to gain everything, but intending to give nothing? Keeping someone around because they do nice things for us?

"Love is patient,

love is kind and is not jealous;

love does not brag and is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly;

it does not seek its own,

is not provoked,

does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails..."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NASB)

There's no such thing as "selfish love"-- only selfishness. How many of us treat our spouses this way? Our parents? Friends? Jesus?

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." -John 15:13 (KJV)