dailywordofdestiny

‘Love’ is a very confusing concept these days. People use the word ‘love’ to describe very different things: people ‘love’ their dog, ‘love’ their car, a dress, a boiled egg, a sexually intimate partner, a song, a book, a movie, a country, and the list goes on.

What can ‘love’ possibly mean if it applies equally well to a person, food, pet, thing, etc.?

Everyone believes that love is important, but love is usually thought of as a feeling and feelings can and do change according to external/internal conditions in and around a person’s life. In reality, ‘love’ always involves CHOICE and an ACTION. You will display your love or lack of love in the CHOICES you make and in the ACTIONS you take in any given relationship.

There are two Greek meanings for love: ‘phileo’ and ‘agapao’. At times ‘love’ is practiced within the scope of each meaning; at other times the meanings get mixed together (like the scrambled egg). Jesus addressed this very issue with Peter in John 21: 15-19.

Phileo means to have ‘tender affection and feeling’ for something or someone and it is often more ‘impulsive’. This is the love a man may have for a son or daughter, a wife, a mother. The meaning of this ‘love type’ conveys the thought of cherishing the ‘object’ above all else.

In today’s world system we frequently see a negative ‘twist’ stirred into choices made and actions taken in the ‘name of love’. I have frequently heard it said, “It just happened; I just knew she/he was the one”. I have also noted that there appears to be no attached consequences, no responsibility, no lasting quality, and that it can change as quickly as the weather. I see this as the kind of love that makes a person ‘feel good’ and it is all right to sacrifice your moral principles and the other’s rights in order to obtain such a love.

The other word, agapao (agape) means ‘to have esteem or high regard for’ and it is used in several different ways in the Bible. It is love that is born out of respect and the feelings that develop in this relationship occur over time. There is genuine ‘caring for’ the other person; placing their comfort above your own.

Agape love is seen in God’s love toward His Son (John 17: 26) and toward the human race (Romans 5: 8). It is the love that God desires His children to have for each other (John 13: 34, 35) and it expresses the very ‘nature’ of God (1John 4: 7, 8). This kind of love can be known only from the positive actions it prompts, as seen in God’s gift of His Son (1 John 4: 9, 10).

Agape love is like ‘oil’ to the wheels of obedience. I am not forced to love my brother or sister; I do it because of my love for Jesus. I make a CHOICE to love others (friend, foe, brother, sister, black, white, rich, poor) and this ‘Spirit-inspired’ love never fails (1Corinthians 13: 3) and it always grows.

God’s love is the SOURCE of all human love and it spreads like fire. In loving His children, God kindles a flame in their hearts. In turn, they love others, who are warmed by God’s love through them. GOD IS LOVE. His love surpasses our powers of understanding; it is everlasting, it is free, it is sacrificial and it endures to the end.

RECEIVE HIS GIFT OF LOVE TODAY!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3: 16, 17)