Love as the Basic Value

Abstract

The Bible unequivocally states that the fundamental value is love. God is love and created man in His own image and likeness. Thanks to this, we are able to consciously accept love and respond with love to the love we receive. The condition for living in love is not only the decision that I want to love, but also a mature understanding of what love is all about. Christ teaches us to love in a disinterested and irrevocable, but at the same time wise way, i.e. adapted to the situation and behavior of the person we love. This is why Jesus supported noble people, admonished the erring, and defended Himself against the wrongdoers. All religious practices should lead to an ever more faithful imitation of the ways of communicating love that Christ teaches us. For it is love, and nothing else, that is the test of man's maturity and the only criterion of salvation.