Love
Love is one of those beautiful actions that frequently expresses itself through feelings, but is, by definition, an action. There are three different words used in the scriptures to express the same word in most translations, and cause an injustice when each definition is used as the same word; love. So, to read an English translation, with the same word ‘love’ used to describe the three different meanings is totally inaccurate; therefore, in our everyday usage of the word love, we somehow have lost the deeper, or upper meaning, and now think that ‘love’ is the two lower meanings.
The first of the three that we will look at is; phileo, which means to be fond of, to have affection for, and is the deliberate assent of the will, as in the matter of principle or duty. This is the kind of affection that one might have for their brother or sister, or their pet, or how much they like a certain food.
The scribes and pharisees loved, (phileo), to pray standing in the streets or in a crowd, they also loved, (phileo), the upper most rooms at a feast, or greetings in the market; but is still translated as love. But is not related to the Love that the Father has for us, nor should it be the Love that we have toward Him, for God desires that we Love Him with the same Love that He gives.
Another word of the Greek language that was commonly used, but still translated as ‘love’, was agapao. This word is used in a social or moral sense, a deeper action of love, such as to love, (agapao), your neighbor, or to love, (agapao), your enemies. The deeper value illustrates not only a profound affection, but also a multilayered meaning.
Another way of comparing the two above mentioned words is; that those in Christ are to ‘love their fellow man, their spouse, even their enemy, with a far more reaching action of affection than we are to ‘love to be served, seen, or heard’. Even to love in a way that is a further grasp of devotion than the normal sibling love.
But the word used most frequently, and with the deepest of all value is Agape. Agape has a meaning that is as complicated, but yet simple, and even the definition its self has layered significance that is many times beyond our understanding. It is a Love with benevolence, a Love of melting into that in which it is directed at, or coming from. It is, in a deep sense, to give a feast, or to give that which is far greater than just a ‘good meal’, a touching action that binds us together. Agape is to feed from or to feed another, an interaction of oneness. Such as to Love, (Agape), your friend with a Love that no action is greater, that he would lay down his life or soul for, not for principles, nor from a moral sense, but from a generosity that can come from no-other than the Spirit that lives inside of us. Not an action or feeling of ‘love’ that we can muster up, but from the flow of our God that lives in all; Agape. Jesus said that not only does he give abundant Life, but from the same abundant Agape Love.
Many translations use the word ‘charity’ instead of ‘love’, but the two, in the Greek, are one and the same; Agape.
In Corinthians thirteen we read: Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not Love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not Love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not Love, it profits me nothing. This is speaking of Agape.
It is clear, that in reading the above scripture that two different types of love are used, one to describe far reaching examples of dedicated action, and One that goes much beyond the reach of human ability, the Agape Love that the Apostle Paul is speaking of is a deeper and wider source of love than man, with his own ability, could ever bring to fruition.
So can we move mountains, or prophesy, or feed the poor, or even give our life to be burned, and still have not this Agape Love? Yes. For this ‘beyond human strength’ Love comes only from the Father, and can pass through us to others, but not be manufactured by us. So it’s not hard to tell that this is a special, most elevated, type of Love; Agape.
Let us continue in the same chapter, starting with verse four.
Love suffers long and is kind, Love does not envy; Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the Truth; bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will fail; where there are tongues, they will cease; where there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a mirror, dimly, but then face to face…And now abide faith, hope, and Love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love.
These verses start with what Love is, and then continues into what it is not, and then, again, returns to what Love is. If we compare what we were taught is love, to that which these verses express as Love, then one may see that there is a vast difference between the two, and we are speaking about Agape Love. Can the lower two levels of love betray its’ self as rude, selfish, envious, parading, or be puffed up? The answer might be yes. But with the kind of Love that God Loves us with, Agape, this hasn’t, doesn’t, nor will it ever happen, for His Love is superior to the manufactured love that man has fallen too. These verses also denote that man has stayed himself on the lower level of immaturity when speaking about what we do as youthful in the things of God, but also expresses what happens when these childish levels; are overcome. The difference between the two levels is as if a dark colored glass was held between us and the Life we could see, but when that which is Perfect comes, the true Agape love, then that same glass becomes clear, and only then, and not until then, shall we see Life as it really is. WOW!!
It’s not that some have missed this enlightenment, but virtually all of us has; we all see through that glass dimly, but the perfection of God is when Love prevails over all things, therefore all knowledge, prophesy, and tongues will have no further use, and be done away with, individually, leaving only the Love of God in us. For only Love alone can conquer all things.
In fact, Jesus, more or less, did away with all ten of the commandments, by condensing all that God wants into the two that he left us with; to Love the Lord your God with all your…, and to Love your neighbor as yourself. For it is impossible to Love your neighbor, much less God, more than you can love yourself, and I’m not talking about that lower level selfish love, for the level that love has developed within us is the only kind of love that is beheld, therefore the definition, from what we’ve been taught of love is far inferior to the true Love that we can Love ourselves in, as God also Loves us with. So if we truly love ourselves with the Love that God Loves us with, then, and only then, is loving yourself not selfish, therefore leaving us with the true ability to Love God, and our neighbor.
We already have been offered true faith, hope and Love, but most likely it is still unrealized, for all three already abide; but the greatest of these is Agape love, that covers a multitude of sin, and can never fail. For if there were a way to express what God is, or what He desires for us, the sum total of it all will be LOVE. Love in its entirety consumes everything that is below it, which happens to be everything.
True Agape Love cannot conceive disappointment, ill-feelings, resentment, bitterness, strife, or envy; for this same Love overrides all selfish motives; IT IS PURE.
When Jesus asked us to lay down our life, a purposed act, and follow Him, and this being done, only then can we grasp that perfect Love that has always been offered by our Lord.
Love, and how it’s been proposed, and especially by those of the high seats of the ‘church’, is completely misleading all that buy-into- it. God is Spirit, and those that abide in Him are known through the Spirit and commune one with the other, for there is no trying, in the Spirit of God, it is our unnatural, natural ability. For what else can come thru us, if not by Love? At least for those that have laid down the ‘old man’, and followed Him.
Again, Love is not a feeling, although it may manifest itself, once in a while that way, for love branches itself in many different directions, but always with one Truth. If we say we love, but hate our neighbor, or if we say we love, but have not tender Mercy, or, if we proclaim our love, and yet show no humility to those that the world thinks doesn’t deserve it; then we are yet liars and speak as children. The Love of God, whether it forwards from Him or through us, is always kind, caring, gentle, and consistently thoughtful, it never struts itself, nor is it ever overbearing, for Love is longsuffering and endures without limits from a pure heart.
So let us look at ourselves, and we all need to inventory this true being of Spirit that lives within, and the outward man also, and see that generations of men who didn’t have this Agape love, pretended they did, but through cleaning out our own skeletons, can determine if we too have been duped. Now I ask this question. Are we also passing that same example of love one to another? Therefore continuing this false belief that Love sometimes fails, for in truth Love never fails, nor does Love need to be propped-up; it stands on its own; or can we move to the next level where every sin is covered by Love?
In the first few chapters of Revelations is the last that we hear of the word Love used, and it leaves us with: “Nevertheless I have this against you, you have left your first Love.” And only a few verses later does He leave us with these words: “As many as I Love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” And remember that repent means to change the way we think, it’s a whole new way of thinking, and comes only thru the mind of Christ.
In this case, I’m asking that we unmask ourselves, and come out of this denial that came from the repetitive behaviors of many of our forefathers. Look within, the place that the Kingdom lives as told to us by Christ, and find the true REST, and comfort that He has already given to us, but hidden under all those many habits of the past. The Love is there, it is within each person, but hidden under many masks that we have placed, one on top of the other, until the true being of man is lost through this shuffle of life. Not really lost; but, it just hasn’t been found yet.
The scripture in Matthew twenty-one says: “And whosoever falls upon this Rock,” (the Truth of Christ), “will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” These words are not speaking bad about anything that the ‘whosoever’ is, or will be done to them; but contrary, is speaking of an awakening, a growth, a change in the way they, or we, view things from a Godly perspective. We have a choice. We, as an individual, can choose to fall upon Christ, the Rock, abide in His chastisements, the learning curve of His Truth and Love, or we can live in this denial, which will grind our flesh, thoughts, and ideas to powder. If one would call this action from God, wrath, then this wrath becomes a blessing that will bring the one falling, into an intimate relationship with the Father thru His Christ. It can happen now. “For every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.” It’s either now or then.
Love can never be used up, for the more we give it away, the more we possess of its gift. Although the recipient of Love gains in every way, the giver gains even more.