Effective Series: Agape

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." (2 Peter 1:3-7)

Love is one of those words that we use so often that it often runs the risk of losing its meaning. One can simultaneously love their mother, their favorite athlete, their favorite food, a novel, or a season of the year; but many of these "loves" carry different weights. Each of them has its place, and perhaps a better word could be chosen for a few of those instances, but Greek writers were very clear in their uses of the word "love." I tackled one such version of the word in the last entry, "Philadelphia." This time around, to finish the list off with a bang, Peter tells us supplement each of these traits we've spoken on—faith, excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly affection—with Love (agape/agapao).

I capitalize that word because it truly stands on its own as a trait for Christians to walk in. In so many of the New Testament authors' rebukes, reminders, and encouragements, this Love is described as the highest virtue one could walk out. It's meant to mirror the Love that Jesus has for us, the one that sent Him to the cross and resurrection. We see this in perhaps the most recognized verse in the Bible, John 3:16...

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

I'm going to back up a bit before moving forward, though, because the Bible has a lot to say about this Love and all of it good for us to think on, and I want to dissect it as thoroughly and honestly as I can; so, please, bear with me.

Called in Love

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Romans 10:9-10)

I began this series by asking you to dig into yourself and to bring to surface the deepest desires of your heart—the people God has put on your heart to pray for, the spaces God has put on your heart to impact, and the common call that God has placed on all of us to spread this Good News of His called "the Gospel." This call, I believe, is spurred entirely by God's Love. That's what we see in the case of Christ, anyway: it was because of God's Love that Christ was sent. I would reckon that, in the same way, God has sent each one of us to tell the world about Jesus because of His Love for them and because of His Love for us. The reason for this sending is that each of us would have the opportunity to rekindle a relationship that began at the dawn of man. God designed each of us for relationship with Him. It's this relationship with each of us, individually and collectively, that He holds dearest.

This Love for us is what keeps us alive as we see so many times throughout Scripture and in our lives daily. Romans 3 tells us that all of us have sinned (literally, missed the mark) in God's eyes; Romans 6 tells us that the price for our sin is death—it's the official punishment for sin, the only thing that could possibly atone (make things right) for our sins. If you're reading this, though, it's clear that you haven't paid that price—not in a physical sense, at least. But until we recognize, acknowledge, and accept the fact that Christ took the punishment on Himself, both physically and spiritually, then we live our lives in a state of spiritual death (i.e., separation from God's mercy, eternal punishment—this is what Hell is).* Romans 10 lays this wonderfully, I'd recommend you read it and meditate on it; but for now, I'll move on.

Effectiveness Redefined

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law...Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:8,10)

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God, because God is love. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8)

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

It is through that lens of salvation and relationship that we can measure our effectiveness here on Earth, and its why Love is so important to God and to our "success" in His eyes. I believe I could say the same for each of these traits that we've been dissecting in this series; you could be faithful, excellent, knowledgeable, disciplined, enduring, "godly", and friendly, but without Love these efforts are rendered null. To maintain Love as true North on your compass will do you well in all things, it should be the place from which you do everything; and the best way to know what that looks like is to know God the person, not just the concept. This is the importance of relationship.

It's a rather simple message, but its execution is very difficult because we're constantly being influenced by our desires and our environments (the people, places, and things we spend with). If we wish to do well in our individual calls and collectively as the Church, the Body of Christ, then we need make Love a habit—it needs to be our foundation. What Love looks like specifically, I'll tackle in a later entry because its appearance changes a bit in different circumstances, but as a general rule of thumb: If God wouldn't do it, think it, or say it, then it's probably not coming from a place of Love.

As another rule, it's what this whole series has been about. Read the Word, surround yourself with others who read the Word; pray often, honestly, openly, and transparently. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." At the end of the day, our success isn't measured by how many "things" we did. It's not about how good a person we are relative to another. What matters to God is that you know Him and that you'd let others know about Him through your thoughts and actions. He wants us home with Him, all of us. The only metric for how well we do while on Earth is whether you look more like Jesus today than you did a year ago. Lists just keep things tidy and organized for us.

"For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:8-11)

Be blessed.

---