3:250 – Agape Love

#faithbites #faithjourney #NeverStopLearning #NewWord Agape

I love learning new words. Sometimes these are words I’ve never heard, other times it’s in a new context. Regardless of where I learned them, I like to look up the definition and share it with others. Today’s word is form our sermon today: Agape. This is from ancient Greek and is a Greco-Christian term referring to love. It isn’t the love that we have or share, it’s the highest form of love. It is the love for all for us. As a bonus, the Bible shows us four types of love:

• Storge – empathy bond
• Phila – friend bond
• Eros – romantic love
• Agape – unconditional “God” love

In English, we use the word love to represent all of these types of love. It doesn’t do justice and can often confuse situations. I have lots of people I love, and some think it’s sexual. It’s not Eros love, but Phila love.

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time expressing Agape love. I know God loves me no matter what. His love is beyond all human understanding. My hope is that I begin to live deeper in Christ, I can love him even a fraction of how he loves me.

Scripture

• John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• 1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
• Luke 10:27 – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Reflection

Our scriptures for today gives us great examples of agape love.

John 3:16 – God sacrifices his only son so we can be forgiven. He takes a park of himself, becomes man, and willing is crucified for us. That is true love.

1 John 4:18 – Love without fear. I can’t say that I have experienced that. In all that I love, there is a tiny bit of fear. Maybe they don’t love me as much as I love them. Am I going to do something wrong to mess it up. Jesus shows us that in Agape love, all fear is removed.

Luke 10:27 – Love completely. All your heart, all your mind, all your soul. Can you say you have loved like this? I wish I could. I love deep, but there is always something that distracts, something that keeps it from this love. Through prayer and the Grace of God, I hope to get closer to this type of love.

We have to work to try to glimpse what it feels to love someone like this. God doesn’t. He created this love and shows it to us on a continual basis. The most amazing piece of our faith is that we don’t have to do anything to deserve it. Jesus loves us conditionally. His love surpasses all human understanding (Ephesians 3:19).

What an amazing God we serve and are loved by!

Challenge

Do you feel Agape love? Are you working towards it. Enter into prayer today. A deep prayer asking to experience this love and understanding. Ask God to show what Agape love feels like. Then try to show that type of love, understanding, and respect to someone you know. This love can radically alter our world. It did when Jesus shows it to us.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for showering us with love that is beyond our understanding. We want to emulate this love with all we see. Quiet our minds. Cast our our fear. Show us what our world would love like if we all experienced and loved like this. Give us the tools to move closer to loving like this. Forgive our trespasses and and not only help us forgive those who trespass against us but help us love them unconditionally. You are an amazing awesome God. We love you and give you all the glory. Amen.