These days I’ve been a little restless. Some things in earthly life made me feel discouraged, and as a result, my energy to keep pace with prayers diminished a little. Glory to Jesus. Through the maturity He has given me, I can more easily see where my refuge is and the source of my joy.
In the midst of this rather bad time, feeling anguished, I threw myself into Father’s arms. I turned off everything that could get in my way, turned off the lights, and cried for his peace. Humbled myself at his greatness and apologized for the lack of wisdom in not running right into his arms at the first opportunity. I opened my mouth and said out loud what was going on and why my heart was so heavy.
At that moment I felt God talking to me about His genuine love for men. I was taken with virtue and peace. Ran to open my bible and began to try to understand more deeply what had just come to my mind at that moment of prayer. I decided to share some of this with you today.
The concept of love
Although we use the word “love” for various situations, the bible does not cite just one type. In ancient Greece up to seven types of love were recognized, with different names and expressions. I will focus on just two, which are the closest to what we live in everyday life.
The first is eros love. It is basically the love we feel in relationships. That deep, passionate love we have for our partners or pretenders. Eros love is characterized more by desire and intensity. We could better define it by using the word “passion”.
The second is agape love. It is in this love that I want you to focus as I speak. For it is the original word of the New Testament text when we read about God’s love for men. Agape is different from sentimental love. It is a rational and unconditional love. Love of pure kindness and surrender. It is something that totally escapes our worldly understanding. For us Christians, agape love is the exact essence of God. And it can only be found in the Lord.
1Jo 4: 8 “He that loveth (agapao – the act of agape love) not knoweth not God; for God is love (agape).”
John is saying in his epistle that God is the exact definition of rational, unconditional love. And if one person cannot decide to love unconditionally and surrender to his neighbor, it is because he cannot yet conceive of the true essence of God within himself.
If God is love…
When God chooses His people, He says He intends to form a Kingdom of kings and priests, a holy nation. In this case, separated from all evil for the exact knowledge of Him. Through Jesus Christ we can enjoy this same privilege and we are called to the same end.
From the blood of Jesus, our spirit is purified by the Holy Spirit and we are separated from evil to become aware of agape love, which is the exact expression of God. But while we are still composed of body, soul and spirit, we live in a constant struggle against the flesh, so that through the practice of the Christian faith we become aware that the love of God dwells in us. In this we strive to weaken our flesh and walk in holiness and love toward all men.
One of the goals
I understood from the following text that one of God’s purposes for us is that we seek full awareness of His love, regardless of external factors. This involves a daily exercise, not based on feeling. But on reason and daily decision. Dwelling in God, that is, remaining conscious at all times of his love through the Word and prayer, that his essence may be perfected in us.
In short, we cannot even love God back if we do not receive from His Spirit and become aware every day of His love for us. This clearly shows how important it is to keep focused at all times on things that are from above (Col. 3: 2) through the constant practice of the Christian faith.
May God’s love be perfected in all of you who have been called and chosen to be holy in the name of Jesus. Amen!
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