Do you mean that doing what is best for one's neighbour is love?
Yes, if we understand in the absolute sense what is "best." Read on...
I have heard this, but I have also heard of such things as 'love of a vice'; things condemned as sinful in the Bible.
Such use of the word "love" is acceptable in English and even most languages; it is common to share the same word for a sense of good and bad love. However, ultimately, we are commanded not to "love" the things of this world (1 John 2:15). In fact, it says if we do love the things of this world, we DO NOT love God. So what is that definition of love? Read on.
What therefore, is the aim of love?
To bring about the glorification of the ultimate object of our affections. Therefore, to love a brother is to assist him in any way to bring about the glorification of God (the ultimate object of our love).
So, to love the world is to bring about the glorification of the "world" (in the sense of this world of sin). To glorify the created rather than the creator is wickedness (Romans 1:25); not to mention that the created (the world) is now warped and marred heavily by the ravages of sin (Romans 8:22).
After all, what do you do when you express your love to someone? You glorify (honor) them. It is not wrong to bring about an appropriate level of glorification to your spouse, because you are called to show forth the glory of God in others, and that is accomplished by showing the nobility and honor with which God's creatures were created with. Additionally, honoring your father and mother (Matt. 19:19) respects a God-created, God-instituted order by which we reflect our relationship with God himself as our Father (Matt 6:9).
So, as Jesus warned about in the gospels, to love anyone more than him (including family) makes you unworthy of Christ (Matt 10:37); after all, you would not love anyone "more than" him if you understood how to truly love God, for God is due ultimate love and in the highest place in our hearts, a place that not only ranks above everyone else, but it guides and directs how and why we love others. We don't just enthrone God at the center of our hearts, we have all other loves orbit around that center in appropriate fashion.
He is the sun in the solar system, and every other celestial body orbits around that sun as the center of all things. This is, of course, a limited metaphor.
Note Acts 21:
11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
Here we have a prophetic warning of what is to come, as well as commands from friends that Paul not go. Paul, however, will not be dissuaded; he's going to Jerusalem, live or die. If your friend was going somewhere where you know he would be imprisoned, and possibly killed, would you let him go? What would be most loving? If your ultimate goal is to glorify your friend, than it is NOT glorious to rot in prison; you would seek to make his life comfortable and free of pain. However, Paul knew his mission: the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, Paul did not resist death, if death brought about God's glory. This is ultimate love for God. If we truly and deeply loved God, and if we understood the situation, we would pray for strength for Paul, perhaps help equip him for his journey, and wouldn't for an instant try to discourage him from going where he might be imprisoned or die; after all, that is where he will best glorify God for that period of his life.
I hope this helps!
I'd also like to repent here of my statement earlier. I said, "let me show you what love is." I believe that statement was made in arrogance and lacked humility: may God show me love so that I may be able to show a glimpse to others. I repent for sounding so arrogantly knowledgeable on a subject that I am a mere student of.
