WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE WORD "LIFE," THE WORD "LOVE" IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ABSTRACT TERM IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE.
LOVE, OF COURSE, WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE TEACHING OF JESUS.
LOVE IS WHAT DESCRIBES THE NATURE OF GOD, PROVIDES THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS, AND MANIFESTS THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE CULMINATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE.
LOVE IS THE BASIS ON WHICH GOD DEALS WITH HIS CREATION AND IT IS THIS VERY LOVE THAT WAS SHOWN TO US THROUGH THE INCARNATION AND DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
BOTH OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS PAINT A VIVID PICTURE OF THIS LOVE THAT ORIGINATES FROM GOD. BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE IS GOD WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT THIS HIGHEST FORM OF LOVE IS AN UNFAILING LOVE.
HAVING A HEALTHY DEFINITION OF THIS LOVE IS CRUCIAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE. WHY? BECAUSE THERE ARE VARIOUS KINDS OF LOVE AND DIFFERING DEGREES OF THOSE VARIOUS KINDS.
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THE TWO GREATEST KINDS AND DEGREES OF LOVE ARE ’AHAB AND HESED.
’AHAB IS A HEBREW VERB THAT OCCURS OVER 200 TIMES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT TO SIGNIFY A "SPONTANEOUS AND OUTFLOWING LOVE.
IN HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IT IS THE TYPE OF LOVE THAT UNITES TWO OF THE OPPOSITE SEX TOGETHER IN MARRIAGE LIKE THE LOVE OF JACOB AND RACHAEL (GENESIS 29:18).
THE TYPE OF LOVE THAT BONDS PARENTS WITH THEIR CHILDREN SUCH AS ABRAHAM AND ISAAC (GENESIS 22:2).
THIS HEBREW VERB HELPS US UNDERSTAND THE LOVE WE MUST SHOW TOWARDS GOD. IT IS THIS VERB FOUND IN DEUTERONOMY 6:4-5 THAT SAYS, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT."
IT IS ALSO THIS VERB THAT COMMANDS US TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AND TO TREAT STRANGERS EQUALLY AS OUR NEIGHBORS.
AN EXAMPLE OF THIS VERB IS FOUND IN LEVITICUS 19:33-34, "DO NOT EXPLOIT THE FOREIGNERS WHO LIVE IN YOUR LAND. THEY SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, AND YOU MUST LOVE THEM AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF…."
THE SECOND WORD, HESED, IS A HEBREW NOUN THAT OCCURS OVER 250 TIMES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT TO SIGNIFY A "DELIBERATE CHOICE OF AFFECTION OR KINDNESS." THIS NOUN CAN ALSO BE TRANSLATED AS THE ENGLISH WORD "MERCY."
IN HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IT IS THE TYPE OF LOVE THAT INITIATES UNREQUESTED ACTS OF LOVE AND SERVICE FOR ANOTHER PERSON.
SEVERAL ACCOUNTS INCLUDE SARAH AND ABRAHAM (GENESIS 20:13), JACOB AND HIS SON JOSEPH (GENESIS 47:29), AND RUTH AND NAOMI (RUTH 3:10).
THIS IS THE TYPE OF LOVE THAT IS NOT FORCED OR COERCED. ONE WHO RENDERS THIS LOVE DOES SO WILLINGLY AND NOT OUT OF SELF-INTEREST. IT COMES OUT OF A WILLFUL COMMITMENT TO THE ONE BEING HELPED.
THIS NOUN IS ALSO USED TO TELL US THAT WE MUST HAVE AN ACTIVE CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD, NOT JUST THOSE KNOWN PERSONALLY TO EACH OF US, OR ONLY SOME SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP OR TARGETED AREA OF OUR COMMUNITY. ALL PEOPLE MEANS ALL PEOPLE…WE SERVE EVERYONE.
THIS NOUN ALSO SIGNIFIES THE GREATEST OF ALL LOVE AS GOD LOVED US SO MUCH THAT HE ESTABLISHED A NEW COVENANT WITH US BY SACRIFICING HIS ONLY SON JESUS IN ORDER TO RESTORE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.
JUST BY USING THE OLD TESTAMENT WE CAN SEE THAT LOVE IS MORE THAN EMOTION, MORE THAN JUST SOMETHING THAT WE FEEL OR EXPERIENCE.
THIS IS WHY THE NEW TESTAMENT SHEDS EVEN MORE LIGHT ON WHAT LOVE IS ALL ABOUT. BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST, THE OLD TESTAMENT UNDERSTANDING OF LOVE IS STRENGTHENED AND BROUGHT TO A HIGHER LEVEL.
THREE FORMS OF LOVE ARE INTRODUCED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: EROS, PHILOS, AND AGAPE.
EROS LOVE IS ONE OF THE MORE FAMILIAR YET MOST ABUSED, MISUSED AND MISINTERPRETED TYPES OF LOVE.
ALTHOUGH IT NEVER APPEARS IN THE BIBLE IT PERTAINS TO AN EROTIC, SEXUAL LOVE AND DESIRE THAT IS SENSUAL AND SPONTANEOUS. ONE THAT IS EXPRESSED, UNDEFILED, BETWEEN A HUSBAND AND WIFE.
PHILOS LOVE IS A LOVE MORE ON THE LEVEL OF AFFECTION AS WOULD BE FOUND IN A CASUAL FRIENDSHIP.
WITH AT LEAST 25 REFERENCES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IT CAN ALSO MEAN "FRIEND" OR "AFFECTION." THE BEST EXAMPLE IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JESUS AND LAZARUS.
THIS TYPE OF LOVE FOR A FRIEND IS MOST COMMONLY EXPRESSED THROUGH A HUG OR HANDSHAKE. IN SOME COUNTRIES IT IS EXPRESSED BY KISSING BOTH CHEEKS.
THEN THERE IS AGAPE LOVE. THIS LOVE IS BASED ON A DELIBERATE CHOICE TO LOVE. WE ALSO REFER TO THIS AS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
THIS KIND OF LOVE GOES AGAINST NATURAL HUMAN TENDENCIES. IT IS A GIVING, SELFLESS, EXPECT-NOTHING-IN-RETURN KIND OF LOVE.
THIS HIGHEST FORM OF LOVE IS REFERENCED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 137 TIMES AS A VERB AND 116 TIMES AS A NOUN.
IT IS A DISCRIMINATING TYPE OF LOVE THAT INVOLVES DELIBERATE CHOICE. THIS IS A PERSON WHO PURPOSELY CHOOSES TO LOVE.
THIS LOVE MAKES NO DEMANDS OR SETS ANY PREREQUISITES BEFORE THE LOVE WILL BE RENDERED. IT CHOOSES TO LOVE EVEN WHEN THAT SAME LOVE IS REJECTED AND NOT GIVEN IN RETURN. THIS LOVE, LOVES, REGARDLESS.
THIS IS WHY THERE IS SUCH POWER FOUND IN JOHN 3:16, "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE."
THERE’S POWER BECAUSE GOD CHOSE TO GIVE HIS LOVE WITHOUT EVEN CONSIDERING WHETHER OR NOT WE WOULD LOVE HIM BACK. HE LOVES WHETHER REJECTED OR ACCEPTED. THIS IS THE KIND OF LOVE IN WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO SERVE, TO MINISTER AND TO LIVE.
THAT’S WHY WE NOW FACE THE PAINFUL TASK OF APPLICATION BECAUSE FOR MOST OF US WE ARE NOT LIVING AT OR NEAR THE LEVEL OF AGAPE LOVE. WE ARE STUCK SOMEWHERE IN THE REALM OF MISINTERPRETATIONS.
WITH A WORLD STUCK IN A PERVERTED SENSE OF EROS LOVE THAT FROTHS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO DIVULGE ITSELF IN PORNOGRAPHY, ELICIT LOVE AFFAIRS, AND SATISFYING ITS BARBARIC SEXUAL APPETITES, WE MUST AGAIN SOUND THE CALL FOR THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE.
FOR A WORLD THAT HAS TURNED PHILOS LOVE INTO A NEW AGE, SELF-CENTERED, CESSPOOL OF WARM-FUZZIES, FEEL-GOOD-ISM, AND THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING WE MUST SOUND THE CALL TO STEP OUTSIDE OURSELVES AND OUTWARDLY LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.
AND FOR THE MAJORITY WHO HAVE NEVER REACHED THE LEVEL OF AGAPE LOVE MAY WE REALIZE WE NOT YET ARRIVED AND BEGIN THE JOURNEY TO GET THERE.
IN SEEKING AGAPE LOVE MAY WE REACH THIS LEVEL OF UNFAILING LOVE THAT FINDS GOD’S PEOPLE LONG SUFFERING. THAT IS, ONE THAT CHOOSES TO "PUT UP" RATHER THAN TO "GIVE UP" DESPITE OUR DISPOSABLE SOCIETY ENCOURAGING US TO JUST "THROW IT AWAY."
IT IS ALSO A STRONG TYPE OF LOVE THAT HAS ETERNAL PATIENCE. THIS IS ONE WHO HAS THE CAPACITY THAT, WHEN WRONGED, DOES NOT RETALIATE.
THROUGH THE UNFAILING LOVE OF AGAPE MAY WE STRIP OURSELVES OF ENVY BECAUSE WE HAVE DIRECTED OUR LOVE FROM OURSELVES TO OTHERS.
WE HAVE MADE IT OUR AMBITION TO SEEK THE WELFARE AND SUCCESS OF OTHERS BEFORE WE FIND THEM FOR OURSELVES.
THROUGH THE UNFAILING LOVE OF AGAPE MAY WE BECOME LESS AND LESS PROVOKED. THAT IS, WE STOP BEING SO NIT-PICKY, EASILY ANGERED, TOUCHY, AND OVER-SENSITIVE OF WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT US OR TO US.
THROUGH THE UNFAILING LOVE OF AGAPE MAY WE STOP REJOICING IN INIQUITY BUT BE FOUND REJOICING IN TRUTH.
A PEOPLE THAT WILL STOP DABBLING IN EVIL AND FINALLY DECIDE TO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
IN THEIR QUEST FOR ALL THAT IS RIGHT AND TRUE THEY MAY RECOGNIZE THE PROBLEMS AND FAILURES IN PEOPLE, BUT THEY DO NOT LOSE FAITH IN THE POSSIBILITIES OF WHAT THESE PEOPLE CAN STILL BECOME.LOVE NEVER GIVES UP, KNOWING THAT GOD CAN CHANGE LIVES FOR THE BETTER.
LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, THROUGH THE UNFAILING LOVE OF AGAPE, LOVE ENDURES ALL THINGS. AGAPE LOVE WILL ACCEPT ANY HARDSHIP OR REJECTION, AND WILL CONTINUE UNABATED TO BUILD UP AND ENCOURAGE.
IT IS DETERMINING WHAT IS BEST FOR ANOTHER PERSON AND THEN DOING IT!
MAY WE, FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, PROTECT THIS SOLEMN DUTY, TRUST THAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF SUCH LOVE, HOPE THAT REACHING THIS LEVEL IS POSSIBLE, AND PERSEVERE TO STAY PUT ONCE WE GET THERE.
THEN, OF COURSE, ONCE WE HAVE ARRIVED, COMMIT TO GOD THAT THIS LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL! NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL UNFAILING LOVE!
