Agape

What is love?

Love is defined as,” great interest and pleasure in something.” Love has been something that through the ages the definition has been twisted to mean many things more than its original intention. Now phycologists have broken love down into seven segments, and while most of the segments make sense, others blow me away that is would even be listed as,” Love.” Today let’s talk about the love God has for us. John chapter three verse sixteen says," 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." I’m not going to get caught up in the argument that always arises when this scripture is read. I’m just going to be dealing with the ” God so Loved” portion. Loved in this context boils down to a word called,” Agape.” It means love, to love, to be loved. Today in the world we hear statements like: Just be yourself, follow your heart, just be you. We live in a society of, not only self-centered but also of no commitment. Everyone is doing it. From phone plans to gyms, everyone is trying to fit this mold of,” No Judgment, no commitment.” This thinking has been spread into our relationships. ”If they don’t let you be you, then leave them.” We have gotten the word so twisted that now it can be considered a term of endearment rather than its original context of giving one’s self. Scripture says in 1 John chapter four verse twenty: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Again, I ask what is love? Is love just on Valentine’s day when we celebrate a man that was admired as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church? The cool fact here, legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.[1]

The Bible says in 1 John chapter four verses seven through ten:

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Here again we see the Scripture noting because God loved he gave. Also in this passage, we see the word defining itself or defining God as,” Love.” The love defined here can be defined the same as earlier noted,” Agape.” I think it no coincidence here that if you follow the use of this word your see scriptures like Matthew chapter twenty-four verse twelve which says,” And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The same word is notated in Luke eleven verse forty-two,” But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” John chapter five verse forty-two says,” But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.” The list goes on and on, but lastly, I quote John thirteen verse thirty-five,” By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Again, I ask what is love? Love is more than a term of endearment, and more than just a feeling of closeness. In this context it’s more than romantic interest and it is more than lust. Love — Love is giving one’s whole self and expecting nothing in return. Love is something you want to share. When Aleisha and I first got together in 2012, there was no denying it. We were in love and wanted everyone to know it. Here’s how you know we were so young. We would blast it on social media. Today I love her more than I did yesterday and much more than I did seven years ago. I would do anything and give anything for or to her because I love her. The same must go for God. I’m not one of these people that agrees with the songs. ” Jesus is my boyfriend or valentine.” It is a whole different love. Love defined by scripture can be given the name of charity. One passage says this:

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. The NIV commentates it this way: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I enjoy this passage because it gives us a clear depiction of what love should look like in our life. “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth.” My question in response to the quote is: What if someone doesn’t have the truth? In John Chapter 21, Jesus asks Simon Peter three times if he loves him. Many have described this as a preparation of the three denials. In response to the question, Peter said,” Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus’ next statement is where I will delve here. His responses go like this,” Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep.” Jesus depicts what he expects to be a response to loving him, to feed his sheep. The great commission says,” Therefore go and make disciples.” Like stated above Jesus says to feed his sheep. Also, let’s take a step back to before a few of these men were considered disciples. Love will always call for action, or in this case a commission. These men were living their lives, but Jesus sees them one day docking and says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” There are three things through love that we are mandated to do. We must love but love so much that we are willing to correct. We are commissioned in Scripture to make disciples. Last, but not least we have to feed the sheep. It will all boil down to love. If you truly love how God loves you will give all that you are and all you’ll ever become for his kingdom. I often ask myself this question: If God was willing to give his life am I willing to give mine? You see, God expects us to give our entire being for his kingdom. He wants us to love him the way he loves us. He wants us to love others the way he does. We must love in a way for God and others that we must share God’s love and his gospel. Matthew chapter nine verses thirty-seven through thirty-eight says: 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few;

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. We are called, and commissioned to answer the prayer of our savior. There is a God-sized hole within every human being and we have the God that can fill it. I heard it recently said like this,” When talking about outreach we must understand that we are going out into a dead world, and calling for the dead to be risen.” That is the reason the scripture says in Romans chapter eight verse eleven: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. That same spirit that we have can be spread through us to give life to others. Another writer quotes Jesus this way,” I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus even said in Luke chapter nineteen verse eleven,” For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That should be our focus here on earth. To seek, and to save that which was lost. We must look at it like going to a cemetery and calling someone up from their grave sight. Every time I hear,” Seek and save”, I think of the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is one of the USA’s five military services. They exist to defend and preserve the United States. They protect the personal safety and security of our people; the marine transportation system and infrastructure; our natural and economic resources; and the territorial integrity of our nation–from both internal and external threats, natural and man-made. They protect these interests in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along the coasts, on international waters. I’m not trying to give a military background to every branch I listed this to give the USCG’s motto,” Semper Paratus - Always Ready.”

Always ready, that is their motto, but is it ours when working for God. Our motto should be always ready. When we are walking out in the community. Sitting on the bus, train, tram, or airplane. The moment God impresses you to pray, or minister to someone we must be ready to do so. How do you know it’s God? I ask myself that every time. One way to test it that really tells the tale is: if it is for the furtherment of his kingdom then it isn’t Satan. My call to you is, through your love for God, love the people around you. Through that love, you will want to share this great gospel message with them. If you love them the way God does you will not want the to live an eternity in a lake of fire. Scripture says in 2 Peter three verse nine, “Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” That should be the way we think, but it is up to each of us to go and reach the lost. Always ready, to seek and save, through his love! I’ll give you an example of someone who was always ready in scripture. John chapter four verses four through forty-two depicts how Jesus was always ready. He told the disciples in previous scriptures to never go through Samaria, and even if it was a longer route, they must take it. Suddenly Jesus said he must needs go through Samaria. The well of living water sat on the well of earthly water. The disciples were out in the city buying meat. (v8) They have an interaction that opens the woman’s eyes to see that Jesus was a prophet. By the end of the conversation the woman says,” I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Jesus responds,” I that speak unto thee am he.” God manifest in flesh reveals himself as messiah to this woman. This was his plan all along. You see, we must follow his plan, and if we do so he will give us encounters like this one to reach the lost. You may not can say that you are the savior, but you can say I know him. You may not can save them yourself, but you know a God that can. You may not can be the one to fill the void in their life, but you have a God that filled your void. Always ready, to seek and save, through his love!

[1] Quoted from History Channel the link is: https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2