How to Love, Part 1: Agape

I’ve lost count of how many times I see someone accusing Christians, particularly traditional Bible believers, of being “unloving” because they didn’t celebrate or approve of that person’s ideas or lifestyle. Yes, believers are sometimes unloving, judgmental, or prejudiced. And when they are, they need to repent and change. But that’s only a part of the picture.

It is becoming critically important that people who identify as followers of Christ define and practice what God’s love / Christ’s love really is. New Testament Greek uses four words for love: Eros—physical love (of which plenty varieties are going around). Philos—emotional love and the love of friendship. Storge—family love of a parent to a child or vice-versa, and between siblings.

All these three we see in abundance, eros and philos being the ones most debated and going through changes of what’s considered acceptable and normative.

But the fourth love supersedes them all. It operates not by emotion but conviction. It is the selfless love of giving, caring, providing, disciplining, and self-sacrificing for the good of another without expecting anything in return. As such, it is rare. When we see it, we often remark about it because it is indeed remarkable. This is agape love. One does not have to be a believer to practice it, but this is the definitive love of God, wherever Scripture speaks of God’s love. And it is this kind of love that all believers are called to practice. It is a love that chooses to selflessly give, or withhold, for the sake of what is right and ultimately beneficial—even if the recipient may not like it.

So, what about it?

This agape love is where believers, especially the gathered believers and leaders of the church, absolutely must be vocal—with accompanying action and behavior—among churches that may need to rediscover their way, particularly in holiness, in a world that is defining “love” in other ways, often ways that destroy a society’s moral fabric or serve social and political agendas.

For a follower of Christ, “love” does not mean acquiescing to what another person does or demands. It doesn’t mean making people happy or not to feel bad. It does mean upholding biblical standards and radically loving the way Jesus demonstrated. And for the higher purpose of what is redemptive, it may mean opposing what others say or do (while loving them anyway). Those who don’t understand God’s agape—on either side of the fence—may out of ignorance accuse those who practice it. That’s precisely what they did to Jesus, and what has been done to his followers around the world throughout history and today.

Yet the love of God continues to grow among those who embrace it. Embrace it with me.

art credit: © Inspirationgame | Stock Free Images