Wednesday, November 13, 2013

In this segment, we will look at the virtue of “love” which is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. What we will examine is godly agape love not a worldly from of love.

Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness [KJV – gentleness], goodness, faithfulness [KJV – faith], ²³ gentleness [KJV – Meekness], self-control [KJV – temperance].

Let me start by making it clear that godly agape love is not the marshmallow, anything goes, I accept you and everything that you do, form of love that the world and apostate church is calling unconditional love. True unconditional love continues to love through the good times and bad but is not afraid of, nor does it shy away from, tough love when tough love is needed. Let’s takes a moment and look at tough love.

I have heard it said that some of the Old Testament Biblical Prophets were unloving toward the people. I say they love them enough to tell them the truth. People have said some of the Apostles were unloving in dealing with people in the early church. Such as in Acts 5 when a couple decided to lie to the Holy Spirit by lying to God’s Servants the Apostles, therefore, they were struck dead by God. In another case, when a disciple and apostle refused to take someone on a ministry journey, Acts 15, because they had proven to be unfaithful in the past, this has been deemed unloving by some individuals. However, I wonder if anyone would dare say that Jesus Himself did not exhibit the fruit and virtue of love? I can’t think of anyone with the nerve to do such, nor have I ever heard of anyone claiming Jesus was unloving. Yet, we find in the account recorded in three different gospels, Mark 11, Matthew 21, and Luke 19, of Jesus going into the temple and telling those religious people exactly how it was, correcting them, turning over their tables, destroying their property, keeping them from taking advantage of God’s people, and chasing them out. Nevertheless, though it might have looked unloving, un-peaceful, lacking in patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control I assure you Jesus was never at anytime, nor was He in this situation, without love, peace, longsuffering, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. That established then love must have an edge to it at times under certain circumstances.

The definition in the Greek Language for the word “love” used in Galatians 5:22 is as follows.

26. ἀγάπη agapē, ag-ah´-pay; from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; spec. (plur.) a love-feast:— (feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love.

25. ἀγαπάω agapaō, ag-ap-ah´-o; perh. from ἄγαν agan (much) [or comp. 5689]; to love (in a social or moral sense):— (be-) love (-ed). comp. 5368.

Affection is something expressed, something acted upon, it is not a virtual reality. It involves feeling and emotion usually motived by tenderness toward someone. Real affections involves a solid regard for and dedication to someone. Affection is the expression of love. Oddly enough, “affection” is actually a disease and malady when inappropriately applied.

Benevolence is the doer of love. This is where our love becomes action in our acts of kindness toward another, our gifts we give them – both tangle and intangible, our hand extended in friendship – true friendship not just social interaction, the showing of interest and concern, as well as the giving of support and charity when needed toward another person. With benevolence, we put deeds and action to our claims of love.

Charitable love meets the need of the one loved. When we act in charity, which is an aspect and form of godly love, we are willing to meet the need of another person, whatever that need might be, if we have the ability. This is also, where we act graciously toward other people being tolerant of their weaknesses but not tolerant of sin, there is a difference. We show mercy when it is needed, never forgetting our own humanness. We are generous with whatever we have to offer other people, e.g. compassion, food, money, time, talents, gifts, clothing, a listening ear, companionship, something you have two of that they might need, etc.

Godly agape love is love that will love another person not only in the social sense but also in the moral sense. Moral love is willing to risk the anger and rejection of another in order to save the person from some form of harm or distress. Moral love speaks the Truth and points out right from wrong according to God’s Holy Principles. Moral love is not afraid to speak but allows love to overcome all fear and act in the person’s best interest. Moral love has a Standard and holds to that standard out of love. Moral love passes on God’s Principles through teaching them to others. Moral love is about exhibiting a noble, ethical love, which serves a higher purpose than simple reciprocation.

Here are some examples of how we might express godly agape love to God, self, and others as well as through service? We can express our love for God by spending time with Him in prayer, communication, fellowship, and Bible study. We can express our love to God through obedience – one of the greatest ways we will ever be able to express our love to Him. Expressing our love to ourselves might be found in being honest with ourselves and being all we know God wants us to be. We love ourselves when we take care of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. Once we have learned to love God and self appropriately then we have something to offer other people. At this point, we might love others through providing for a need they might have. We can also love people by simply being a true and loyal friend to them in a society where that is becoming ever increasingly hard to find. Through a kind word or a word of encouragement, we can show love to almost anyone we encounter if we just take an extra moment to engage them, and invest in them, seeing and interacting with them as if they are real and matter. We might love through service by providing meals for a family who has lost a loved one to death or by visiting a sick person we know and helping by cleaning their house for them. We might bag up all those clothes we no longer want, and most likely never needed, then take them to someone we know who would benefit from them. God provides us so many opportunities, daily, to love Him, ourselves, and others if we are only willing to slow down and take the time to do so. We just need to have the willingness to act.

When it comes to expressing love, my personal preference in how I wish to display godly agape love is through giving people my time. I choose this method for a number of reasons but my primary reason is that my time, is the only thing I can give that I can never get back – time is my, our, most valuable commodity we have to offer in life and how we spend it is immensely important.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.