Thursday, September 4th
….John 13:34–35(KJV) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
When we talk about love, different interpretations come to the minds of individuals. This is because the world has given different descriptions and definitions to the word, hence corrupting the minds of men. However, what I am explaining to you is Agape-the God-kind of love.
The other ones the world describes, such as Phileo: love between friends; Eros: love between married couples; and Storge: love between people who are related by blood-are not self-sufficient, not eternal, and they fail if they are not founded on the love of God. We have seen mothers abandon their children in the streets, children sacrificing their parents for ritual purposes, and husbands leaving their families. Any affection that is not founded on the love of God is limited.
The good news is that the day you got born again, you received the nature of love in your spirit. The Bible says in Romans 5:5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Our opening scripture in John 13:34 tells us that we have to love as Christ loved us.
Agape is defined as the unconditional love of God. This means that we do not love our wives, husbands, bosses, siblings, and friends because they have done something for us. We love them because we have the nature of God in us. Therefore, let all our affections and all that we do be founded on the unconditional love of God. Hallelujah!
PRAYER
Righteous and loving Father, thank you for loving me with an everlasting love. Your arms of love are ever outstretched to embrace me, and your love for me is unconditional and eternal. I walk every day in, and with, the consciousness of your unfailing love, even as I’ve become a vent of your liquid love to my world, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
DEEPER REFLECTION
1 John 4:7–8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
