Love is a word we use freely, but often we mean different things. Part of that is because there are different kinds of love. Let me lay a little framework.
When we translate or interpret from another language, we always lose some of the understanding of what is being communicated. English as we know it now did not exist when Jesus was around. Kione Greek is the original language of the Bible. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called, The Four Loves. He looked at the Biblical Greek to help us grasp what Love is from our Creator’s perspective. Today I will stick with his four. This is not a book report. I simply enjoy his outline. I encourage you to read his book.
Affection is a tender feeling of attraction to a person, place, or thing. The devotion of affection tends to vary by circumstance or dictionary. Little if any commitment is needed.
Friendship is a deeper relationship with another person that develops over time. True friends care about the welfare of the other and are happy to help each other. Generally, the more shared history people have, the stronger the bond they share.
Erotic love is the kind that is based on physical attraction and sexual intimacy. This love is needed to maintain the species, but it is also an image of the intensity of oneness in marriage. When it is separate from covenant and the other forms of love, it is more animalistic. In the context of a marriage covenant, it enhances the intimacy of the relationship.
Agape love is the best of all forms of love because it an unconditional love. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13 to give us the best picture of Creators 360-degree love and commitment to us. Please take time to read slowly to ponder each clause. Rather than focusing on how one falls short, meditate on how our Maker loves us.
“4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends;”
We can never fulfill this perfectly, however, our Creator can and does.
When I first began to read this passage as a love letter from God rather than a list of accusations of how I fall short. . . my life began to radically shift for the better. It was like I had tapped into a fresh spring of life. And that was because I did tap into the ultimate source.
Maybe few people, or no one, has demonstrated this unfailing love to us, at least not in a way we can receive it? How do we receive it? Surrender. Give our self-protection to the author of love. Trust that Agape love is real. Ask Abba to give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the love of God really is. Consider changing something in our lives. Habits? The people who influence us? Or risk being quiet in the presence of God and His Word. Worship Creator because He is the source of all genuine love. “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
What would happen if millions of people surrender to this unconditional love? Let’s begin one person at a time, because this love is contagious.
