W8D6: Really Love Them

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” Romans 12:9 NLT

Since John said God is love, we need to have God in our hearts in order to really love others well. Some people who don’t have God as their source seem to love people well. They exhibit characteristics of Biblical love, but it is not the same.

The English language has one word for “love” which can be confusing. we can say, “I love my job”, “I love my spouse”, “I love my children”, and “I love my truck”. Each of those types of love is different, at least they should be. To say, “I love chocolate” and “I love my mom”, does not mean I hold them both in the same regard.

Our use of the word “love” is so generic and so watered down that we don’t really understand what it means. The New Testament was written in Greek, which has four words for love: Agape (God’s love), Phileo (Friendship/brotherly love), Storge(Parental/family/protective love) and Eros (Erotic/sexual love). Eros is not mentioned in the Bible but the other three are in there. Unfortunately, our English versions all use the word “love” for each one.

We read the word “love” in the Bible and we often push back, thinking it is impossible to love like that. It says to “love” our enemies. How do we do that? What God calls us to do is to agape love and we just don’t understand it.

Agape love is God’s love. It is the most powerful force on earth. It is courageous, strong, full of compassion, grace and mercy. It goes beyond all reason and flies in the face of our flesh. We struggle with Agape love because people are hard to love. We only want to love people who we feel like loving. How can we love someone we don’t feel love for or even hate?

To begin with, the word “love” in the Bible does not always mean the warm and fuzzy love we often think about. The Greek words phileo, storge and eros do have emotional connections, but agape does not. Agape love is not warm and fuzzy, it is sacrificial. It is doing what is good and right, even when we don’t feel like it. It is not a selfish love of expectation, it is a giving love of surrendering our wants, our comforts and our needs for others.

The highest and most difficult form of love is agape love. It means we do things we don’t feel like doing, even though it’s hard to do, because it’s what we should do, the right thing, the good thing. It is easy to love when there are warm and fuzzy’s attached. When we are rested, when the love is new and exciting. But God doesn’t give us any credit for that at all because that is living on our power, not His.

In the end, the warm and fuzzy kind of love is powerless and fades with time if agape love is not present. Agape love is the true backbone of relationship. It is supernatural because its power comes from God. It is His love that changes the world not ours. His love lasts an eternity, not ours. It is sacrificial love that saves. It is sacrificial love that holds people and families together. The source of this love is God. Christ followers are the chosen vessels to demonstrate His love, not ours to the world.

Do you struggle with “loving” your enemy? What are some things you can do in order to understand Agape love and to be filled with it?

Meditate on Romans 12:9