Take a deep breath because here comes LOVE!
If you know me, you know my two greatest loves, Sherrie, my beautiful bride, and Lilly-pad, my adorable granddaughter. It's my number one love, Sherrie, which leads to our following Wonderfully Weird Command known as "Love the Lord." A trusted command that will get your spiritual heart pumping and life jumping.
Our command today comes from Matthew 22:37, where Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (KJV)," and it is the greatest of all commands! The keyword, of course, is "love." In the Bible, many words describe love, but for our discussion, let's look at three – romantic, friendship, and unconditional love. Let's look at each.
When I first saw my wife, I felt a sudden romantic attraction, and the "whole of me" screamed, "EROS!" [Air-ross]. "Eros" is a Greek word describing romantic love, and it's the word most related to when it comes to love in our modern day and age. It's used in Ecclesiastes 9:9, "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love…." The second type of love is "Philo" [feel-e-oh] love. Philo is a Greek word that refers to friendship, and I'm thrilled to say Sherrie is my best friend. The Apostle Paul uses this type of love in his words, speaking to the Church in Rome, "Be devoted to each other in love (Romans 12:10)." This type of love happens when people are kind to each other. Philo is a win-win type of love. The third type of love is what all Christians should seek in their love story with God and people. It's called "Agape" [a-ga-pay] or unconditional love, like a mother's and father's love towards a child, ideally speaking. We see it in 1 John 4:16, "God is love," and I'm fortunate Sherrie and I are "equally yoked" in this explicit type of love in life that guarantees victory in all relationships.
Understand a person who does not believe in God can never experience "Agape" or unconditional love. Can they share a romantic or "Erose" type of love? Yeppers! But this is just a touch of love; it's not complete love. How about friendship or "Philo" sort of love? Absolutely. However, this is a "quid pro quo" or something in return for love; it fails to connect entirely and comes and goes. Anyone can experience these types of love or even the many other passions mentioned in the Bible. Still, only "Agape," unconditional love, belongs to those who believe and act on God's steadfast love.
Unconditional love only comes through the saving power of God's grace through the reality of God's Son, Jesus. All of God's passions come together as one and are complete here. Taking advantage of God's wondrous love, like Sherrie and I, along with my granddaughter, reveals the type of love that makes anything complete.
Today, let's all decide to focus on God's LOVE to make all love work together forever.
With Love,