We use the word love in a variety of ways.  We exclaim that we love ice cream or that we love going on a vacation.  Our society has many different notions of the meaning of love and there is often a blurring of distinctions between ephemeral, physical love and long-lasting committed love.

Victor Hugo wisely points out,  “The greatest happiness of life is the  conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.”   With many different ideas about love, how do we realize the type of love that Hugo describes?

Jesus gives us the answer as He spoke to His disciples in the upper room,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.  (John 13:34-35)

The word  in the Greek New Testament that Jesus uses do describe “love” is the word ἀγάπη (agapē).  There are several characteristics to this type of love:

1.  Agape love is volitional.  This type of love is an act of the will.  The Greek language has several words for love.  The word eros describes an intense, passionate love that captures the meaning of our concept of physical love.  The word philos describes a friendly type of love involving feelings of toward another.  Agape love is choosing to love another.

2.  Agape love is unconditional.  It is not dependent upon the actions of the other person.  Romantic love  is often characterized by a personal desire for the other person, whereas agape love wants what is best for the other person.

3. Agape love sacrificial.  This is a love that is focused on giving rather than getting.  John 3:16 teaches us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . . ”  Jesus taught and demonstrated that the supreme act of love is sacrificial,

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  (John 15:13)

How am I able to love like this?  The degree to which I understand God’s love toward me is the degree to which I can demonstrate God’s love toward others.  John writes,

We love, because He first loved us.  (1 John 4:19)

Have you experienced His unconditional love in your life?  May the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi encourage your heart as you show forth His love to others,

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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