Marvin Sapp, pastor and gospel singer, took to social media to share his opinions on the magnitude and seriousness of showing love.
After returning from a period of consecration since the start of January, the 47-year old pastor shared his insights on love through his Instagram page.
The pastor posted that it is "frightening" to see how readily people say the phrase "I love you" without giving much thought to the real meaning.
"'I Love You' is being said so easily these days that to me its frightening," he wrote.
"Many use it as a manipulative tool to get what they think they want. However, I wonder while using them do we really understand the depth of what has been uttered from our mouths," he wrote. "'I Love You' to me means total commitment, the giving of ones all, losing out on some [of] your desires in order to grant theirs [sic]."
"It is the commitment to another's happiness above your own which is the ultimate sacrifice. I'm beginning to wonder in our pursuits for relationship happiness do we really understand what I Love You really means," he wrote. "I said it once before and lost a lot in the process, but the gains with her far outweighed what I thought were losses."
The pastor added his prayer that everyone would have the opportunity to experience "the actions of real love".
"But most importantly, I pray when we say it, we understand the seriousness of the word we've selected....," he said.
Sapp lost the love of his life, his wife Malinda, in 2010 from colon cancer and since then has managed to raise his three children as a full-time single father. Sapp and his wife were the head pastors at Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan before she passed away, according to the Christian Post.
"There are days when I get up and I cry, thinking of her. There are days thinking of her and I smile," Sapp told the publication. "There are days when I'm angry. Days that I'm not ... We miss her."
