Agape Love -

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12

This month of love has just flown by, I hope you have enjoyed spending the month of February looking at the different types of love we find woven into the story of us, as told by the Master Himself.

Today we finish up with looking at Agape love – perfect love.

“Agape love,” says Anders Nygren, “Is unmotivated in the sense that it is not contingent on any value or worth in the object of love. It is spontaneous and heedless, for it does not determine beforehand whether love will be effective or appropriate in any particular case.”

Megans nostrils flared, the room shook and the framed copy of the Last Supper crashed to the ground when the door slammed. This is the last time I come back here, EVER!

How dare she make me think she was really planning on killing herself. Pills or no pills, she just wanted a shoulder to cry on until the next time. I knew she would always allow him to come back. How can I be so stupid?! Jackson will never understand why nobody was there to see him kick his first goal. I will never get this moment back either.

Agape love is unconditional love, one that we choose to put forth into the world, regardless of what we get in return. This is a love that is felt deep in our souls and pours out of us when we put our own ambitions aside. We don’t have to wonder if it is “worth” it. We don’t get to choose whether we emotionally embrace it or not.

Love, then, is a principle of good will and is to a large extent under our control. It is an act of obedience and a response to the unconditional love that God has given us.

Let’s see how Megan is doing:

The tears mixed with the rain on the windshield made the road ahead look like a mosaic of gray spittle on a mushy tundra. As I pulled the car over to the side, I started to pray for God to fix my mom. I prayed for her to stop letting Harold use her like he does and for her to get her messy life in order.

But the Holy Spirit gently stopped me and asked me what it would look like if I were to love my mom, just like God loved me. I recalled the time I wrecked my friend’s car while driving drunk and how my friend held me tight and told me she loved me more than any car. I recalled how when Jackson accidentally flushed my diamond earrings, I laughed and then held him tight, because his little lip was trembling so when he told me. I remember how God loved me in the darkest hour of my own recovery.

She was still sobbing on the floor when I tentatively stepped through the broken glass. I just held her and rocked back and forth with her leaning into me as I stroked her hair. I wanted her to know that I loved her no matter what had happened or what the future holds. I wanted to love her as He loved her.

Loving with agape love is choosing, willing to direct God’s love to specific people whether or not they are loveable or responsive. It is loving people because God loves them and it is loving with His love. (A.W.Tozer)

Heavenly Father, we long to love others with a heart that has abandoned the chains of this world. We look at your example of Agape’ love to motivate us to love others as you do. Your love is perfect and has wrecked us for any substitute. Thank you! Amen