Love versus Like: Love and Like

Categorically, love is a relationship, a one-way relationship. This may seem a backwards idea, as most of us define relationships as actually being two-way, or dysfunctional. That is true, to a certain extent. The ideal is for both people in a relationship to love each other, hence making the love going both directions. But love in and of itself goes only in one way, that being the direction of the object of our love.
It is a relationship in the sense that love is a way of acting and relating towards another person. Love is the determiner in how you interact and relate with the object of your love. Love is what connects you to this person; what binds you to them. Thus, at least to my understanding, love is a relationship.
True love gives completely and totally of self with no thought or even desire for reciprocation. A person who truly loves another takes joy in that persons best interests being fulfilled and being an agent in bring those to pass. It is all about the other person. This leads to the fullest joy we can know, especially when that person returns the love. However, the person returning our love is not our goal; our goal and desire is the best thing possible happening to that person.
One of the problems is that none of us have ever really loved like that. We all have our own motives in relationships, conditions that must be satisfied before we are ready to give of ourselves, don't we? Yet, true love has no conditions, no requirements. When asked the question why, love simply responds, "because I do." That's it. So simple, yet so deep and difficult for us to attain. Praise Yahveh we have an example of this.
Ironically, that example is Yahveh himself , in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated true love more clearly than any other act in the history of the universe on the cross. Understand, that Jesus did not die just for the saved, but his sacrifice is for everyone. The writer Paul underscores this principle in his letter to the Romans, saying that Christ died for the ungodly. A couple verses later, he says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ's sacrifice is not good only for good people, but for sinners, of which we all are.
Earlier in the same letter, Paul points out the all-inclusive nature of Jesus' sacrifice. He says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Everyone of us have screwed up and sinned; all of us need a Savior. Yahveh provided that person, in Jesus, for sinners.
Point is that Jesus sacrificed himself for us, risking so much for people who may or may not accept him. He did it anyway. Jesus did it because he loves us and will do whatever is best for us, even if that means he has to die on a cross, taking our sins on himself. And he will do this (did it, actually) regardless of whether we accept it or not. That is a purely one-way relationship. That is love.
Jesus talked about the pure selflessness that comes with love in his last talk with his disciples. He told them that "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." To paraphrase, the culmination of love is that a person sacrifices his life for the person he or she loves. That is ultimate love. To clarify, let me ask you a question: what does a person really gain by dying for another? Nothing, of course, since they are dead. It is all about what that other person can gain from the that person's death. If this is ultimate love, then love is a completely selfless relationship. A relationship that is all about the other person.
Conversely like falls under the category of desire, or want. Indeed like is synonymous with desire. It is akin to lust, although pure lust is quite destructive, in that it is a desire for something that we enjoy, that we find pleasure in. This is not bad, Yahveh created pleasure and enjoyment. To be sure, they have been twisted, but that does not make them an evil in and of themselves. But I digress, so let me give you a personal example of like.
There are many foods that I eat a ton of; some examples would be Brussels sprouts, spinach, bread, cheese, and just about any kind of fruit. However, there are also foods that under no circumstances will I consume. Mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and pickles are my ultimate culinary nemesis. The thought of eating them makes me nauseated.
The question is why will I, or any of us really, devour certain foods, but rather starve to death than eat others? After all, food is food, right? The answer is, of course, because I like the foods on the first list and dislike the foods on the other list. In others words, I enjoy eating brussell sprouts, spinach, bread, cheese, and fruit (sometimes all together). It brings me pleasure. Eating anything on the doomsday list most certainly does not bring me enjoyment and pleasure.
Essentially, like is about pleasure and enjoyment. It is about what you get from the experience. Like is, at the core, about you, what you get from the whole arrangement. There is nothing wrong with that at all, either. Again, Yahveh created pleasure. We are meant to like things.
So what does this look like in the context of a relationship? Liking someone is about what you get in return from the relationship. It is the "take" of a relationship between two people. Really, liking someone is recognizing that there is something about them that you enjoy. They bring pleasure into your life, and so you want to be around them more because of that. You like that person, which is good because it is recognizing that Yahveh made them amazing.
However, it is still all about you. What you get from this arrangement. It is not much different than liking a certain food, or a certain activity, or a certain car. You like them because they give you something that you enjoy, there is something in them you find pleasurable. It is about you.
Love and like are completely different concepts. Love is this selfless relationship that we enter into with others. Like is recognizing that something or someone possess or does something that we enjoy and brings us pleasure, then desiring to have that in our lives. Yahveh both loves and likes us.