40 Reasons God DELIGHTS in YOU
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Reasons God DELIGHTS in YOU
Day 34 | AGAPE LOVE – OUR HIGHEST GOAL
40 Reasons God DELIGHTS in YOU
Day 34 | AGAPE LOVE – OUR HIGHEST GOAL
AGAPE LOVE – OUR HIGHEST GOAL
1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.”
Love. What a simple word. We use it in music, movies, and books. We talk about it at church, at home, and at family events. Love.
But in the Greek there are four different words for love: Philia (friendship love), Storge (family love), Eros (romantic love), and Agape (God’s kind of love).
Consider, if we’re made in God’s image, and God is love, then shouldn’t THAT kind of love – God’s love, agape love – be possible for us?
The other three types of love – all good in the right places – are not genuine sacrificial love, the kind God showered on us.
Each of the other three loves is somewhat “tit-for-tat.” You be nice (loving) to me, and I’ll reciprocate.
But Agape love does NOT require payback. It gives and gives and gives and keeps on giving.
When I do premarital counseling, I always bring up 1 Corinthians 13 and usually quote a few verses from it in the ceremony. But before the service, the couple and I discuss those verses and what they think they mean.
A wise man I heard speak in the past once said: “If you think you have a 50/50 marriage, you’re headed for hurt because there will come a time when one of you doesn’t want to put in 50% of the love. And then what?”
His answer – based on “agape” – is that you must be willing to put in 100% of the love. That’s what God did by sending Jesus. God does that by loving us even when we get flakey in our walk with Him. That kind of love needs to be our highest goal.
Prayer: LORD, thank You for loving me that much. You never gave up on me. Help me to learn to love others the way you loved us. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.”
Love. What a simple word. We use it in music, movies, and books. We talk about it at church, at home, and at family events. Love.
But in the Greek there are four different words for love: Philia (friendship love), Storge (family love), Eros (romantic love), and Agape (God’s kind of love).
Consider, if we’re made in God’s image, and God is love, then shouldn’t THAT kind of love – God’s love, agape love – be possible for us?
The other three types of love – all good in the right places – are not genuine sacrificial love, the kind God showered on us.
Each of the other three loves is somewhat “tit-for-tat.” You be nice (loving) to me, and I’ll reciprocate.
But Agape love does NOT require payback. It gives and gives and gives and keeps on giving.
When I do premarital counseling, I always bring up 1 Corinthians 13 and usually quote a few verses from it in the ceremony. But before the service, the couple and I discuss those verses and what they think they mean.
A wise man I heard speak in the past once said: “If you think you have a 50/50 marriage, you’re headed for hurt because there will come a time when one of you doesn’t want to put in 50% of the love. And then what?”
His answer – based on “agape” – is that you must be willing to put in 100% of the love. That’s what God did by sending Jesus. God does that by loving us even when we get flakey in our walk with Him. That kind of love needs to be our highest goal.
Prayer: LORD, thank You for loving me that much. You never gave up on me. Help me to learn to love others the way you loved us. Amen.
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