Skip to main content

Agape Love

Thoughts on God's Love

St. Valentine's Day gives the opportunity to celebrate love and most importantly, God's love. Without His redeeming love, we would never have known His salvation or forgiveness. Because God is love, He mercifully drew up a plan of eternal reconciliation. While God's redeeming love is the central theme of the Bible, there are three other aspects that should encourage us as we consider God's agape love.

Everlasting Love

We read a declaration of God's everlasting love in Jeremiah 31:3:

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying:

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."
While this was originally directed towards His people, Israel, in the Old Testament, it is the same God who paid for the Church with the blood of His Son and draws us to Himself. His love is unconditional and constant. Often we do not feel worthy of His love, particularly if we believe in a performance-based acceptance. Christ's perfect sacrifice means we can be accepted and loved by God's grace alone.
In the cancel culture of today, it is reassuring to know that God's love for us does not change! He may have to discipline us when we wander from His path just as parents chastise their children for their own good, but He never ceases to love us.


Joyful Love
Zephaniah 3:17 is a delightful verse as we contemplate the subject of God's love.

The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

God takes pleasure in saving the lost and restoring broken lives and hearts. Only He can save us from the power of sin through His Son and when individuals repent, there is rejoicing in Heaven (Luke 15:10).
The Church is portrayed in the Bible as Christ's bride. The bride, fully satisfied with His love, becomes still in His presence with inner peace and assurance. Which bridegroom does not rejoice over his bride? Our heavenly Bridegroom rejoices over us with singing in joyful anticipation of welcoming His bride in a future day.

Unfailing Love
1 Corinthians 13 constitutes a well-known definition of God's agape love and contains a powerful statement in verse 8.
Love never fails.

God's agape love never fails. Everything else in this world will pass away, but God's steadfast love endures forever.


The phrase in 1 Corinthians 13:8 could also be translated: love will never become ineffective. As recipients of God's love, we are constantly being changed by the workings of His love in our hearts. It is our calling to share this love in a cold world to reflect God's heart.


Reaching out to others with acts of selfless love and kindness is more effective than we often realize. When someone is touched by God's love through a thoughtful gesture, they usually remember it. God's love will never become ineffective in our witness and in our lives!



God's love is everlasting, joyful and unfailing. We are blessed beyond words if we have offered Him our hearts to be filled by such love.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

and were the skies of parchment made;

were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,

and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;

to write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry;

nor could the scroll contain the whole,

though stretched from sky to sky.


F. Lehman


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Mystery that is Macedonia

When I first came to Macedonia on a visit in 2001, I found this little country so intriguing and breathtakingly beautiful that I happily accepted the invitation to return for a longer period. That ‘longer period’ has now extended itself to several years during which I have had many enriching, memorable experiences. I thought it might be interesting to jot down a few observations about the difference in culture. I appeal to my Macedonian readers not to misunderstand my intentions. What I have observed are customs and habits which are as normal to you as breathing and sleeping, but to someone from an entirely different culture, they are both interesting and noteworthy. It is always thrilling for me to explore how various nations function and it is nothing short of a privilege to experience a foreign culture first-hand. Hospitality Macedonians are a friendly, hospitable people. I do not know how many times they have almost literally killed me with kindness. Indeed, I have often...
8 comments
Read more

Is Belief In God Blind Faith?

Stephen Hawking famously said: There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark. Comparing the human brain to a computer, he firmly declared his atheistic stance. Dr John Lennox’s reply to this statement turned it on its head: Atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light! Who has the correct perception? Are we just living in a sphere of darkness without God or can we find evidence for God’s light and creatorial power? Evidence for God’s existence The order and design of creation. This is the most compelling sign in my opinion. I cannot look at the beauty and detail of creation without marvelling at the Creator. In the 1980s theoretical biologist, Dr Hans Meinhardt, began to wonder how the beautiful patterns of shells formed. As he researched, he discovered that the rules which govern the formation of the patterns in nature such as leaf arrangements, sand dunes and snowflakes, were the s...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Christmas Memory

As I settle in my seat on the balcony of this historical German church, I can hardly contain my excitement. A feeling of jubilant anticipation pervades the air as people find their seats and the orchestra warms up. The  Thomanerchor  (St. Thomas Choir) *  files into lines at the front of the church and a reverent hush finally settles over the audience. The timpani drums roll, the notes from the flutes and oboes flutter delicately to the church rafters, and the trumpets sound joyfully: Jauchzet, frohlocket! Auf, preiset die Tage …   (Shout for joy, exult, rise up, praise the day) resounds the choir. Transported by the heavenly tones, I close my eyes. In my mind, it is the 25th of December, 1734. Cantor Johann Sebastian Bach is leading the elite male choir on this chilly, Christmas morning. For the first time, the magnificent tones of the  Christmas Oratorio  are reverberating in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn ...
Post a Comment
Read more