Finding our way through the wilderness

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

New International Version (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Day Twenty-Three

How do you Love?

   Love can be one of the easiest and hardest emotions give. It is easy for us to love someone that loves us back. It is easy for us to love someone who has our best interest in heart. It is easy for us to love someone who we feel deserves our love. However, it is hard for us to love someone who hates us. It is hard for us to love someone who attacks or stabs us in the back every chance they get. It is even hard for us to love someone when we don’t think they have earned our love. It is hard to love under these circumstances; however this is what Jesus told us to do. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Still this is one of the hardest of His, Jesus, commandments to keep.

   Many of us struggle with this commandment because we don’t truly understand love. Most of the times we think of love having only one definition, which is to say we think that there is only one form of love. However, contrary to popular belief, this is not a true statement. There are different forms of love and we can become confused and frustrated due to our lack of knowledge about them. When we use only one form of love and try to use it in several different scenarios then it becomes hard to do. For example we can’t love our enemy as we love our parents, because when we try to give that same true love that we have for our parent to a person that opposes us we will fail most of the time. Thus in order to love the way that God wants us to love we must learn the different forms of love.

   The Greeks had four terms that can be related to the English word love. They were eros, phileo, storge, and agape. Three of these were used in the original text of the bible. To understand love we need to know what each mean and how they differ.

   Eros means a sexual or passionate type of love. From eros we get terms like erotic. This type of love is not in the bible but it is important for us to know it, because so often we mistake this type of love with true love when we are looking for our husbands or wives. The enemy can make us think that this love, eros, is the love that will bring us happiness and as we continue we will see that this love doesn’t even compare to the others.

   Phileo means to have a special interest in someone or something, with a focus on a close relationship. Phileo form of love is the kind of love that you have with a close and dear friend. This form of love requires a strong emotional connection between two people. However, if we are not careful this form of love can distract of from our walk with God. Phileo love can also be used to describe our love for materials things. When we apply this form of love to our money, cars, house, or any other material thing God becomes secondary. Remember what Jesus told us in Matthew 6:24, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. So we must be careful to not associate this form of love with anything other than God and our close friends and family.

   The third form of love is storge and this type of love means affection. This type of love is the kind of love that is naturally between parent and children, it can exist being siblings, and it is the type of love that a good marriage is built on. Marriages that are built only on eros love will most likely fail, however when we have storge love for our spouses our marriages can stand the test of time.

    In Romans 12:10 the author talks about a mixture of both phileo and storge love when he says “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love…” In the Greek version the author uses the word, philostrogos, which is a compound word made up of philos (the noun form of phileo) and storge. In this verse the author is telling us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ with the same love and affection that we have for our families.

   The last and most important form of love is agape. Most of us have heard the word agape love before but few of us understand the true meaning of the words. I was taught that it meant only unconditional love. God has agape love for us because He gave His one and only begotten son so we shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). While agape love does mean unconditional love, it also has another important meaning to go along with that. Agape is a selfless love. Agape love is not just a feeling but it is an action as well.  Agape love is an exercise of free will, it is a deliberate choice. The ultimate example of agape love comes from our Savior Jesus Christ. On the night He was betrayed He cry out to God, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus knew of the pain and suffering that lied ahead for Him, but He continued on because of His agape love for us.

   We can mimic Jesus by using the same attitude when it comes to following His commandments. So when He says love you enemies we can do so without any second thought, because we can have agape love for them. While it may be difficult to have phileo love for them we can show them agape love, for this is what our Lord commanded us to do and when we do what He commanded we show Him agape love in the form of unconditionally following His commandments.

   Lastly, agape love is the love that the writer is speaking about in our text from above. For us to truly show agape love we must be patient and kind. We must not be envious, boastful, or proud. We must not dishonor others, seek glory for ourselves, be easily angered, or remember any wrong that has been done to us. Agape love is accepting justice while always seeking the truth.

   Knowing these forms of love we can better follow the Lord’s commandment which will cause us to walk closer with Him, which should be our ultimate goal, because just as the writer said; We can speak in the tongues of men or of angels, we can have the gift of prophecy, we can have faith that can move mountains, we can give all that we possess to the poor, and we can even give our bodies over to hardships in the name of Christ but if we do not have love we gain nothing.

   Please join us tomorrow as we continue our Journey. Until then God Bless.