LOVE IS MULTIFACETED
Love is multifaceted. There is filial love which is brotherly love. There is eros love which is romantic love. And there is agape’ love which is the unconditional love like God has for us. I would like the focus on the ultimate type of love—the agape’ love and what it means to a person of faith.
When we are young and do not realize who God (the Godhead) is, we have a different master, and we are ruled (highly influenced) by the flesh (our feelings and emotions) which led us to do many ungodly things (those that do not line up with the word of God). We smoke, drink alcohol, do drugs, are deceivers, manipulators, steal, kill, take advantage of those who are weaker, ill-informed, or ignorant, participate in extortion, evade paying taxes, and many other wicked things down to telling what some call “the little white lie.”
And then at some point we hear someone preach the word of God, or we receive a Bible from someone, and after hearing what was preached or having read the Bible we are convicted by God’s Holy Spirit and we have faith. And as is written in Romans 10:17 Amplified version—So faith comes from hearing [what is told] and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.
And then, if we are sincere when we give our statement of faith (sinner’s prayer) we will be saved [born again in the spirit] by God by His grace through our faith. Romans 10:9 Amplified version says …if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Now once you have been saved [born again in the Spirit] you are a new creature in Christ, and more important, you have a new master. [2 Cor. 5:17] The old things [that ruled you] have passed away and the new things [of God] have come. The reality is that you now have a divine nature in you which gives you the ability to be an overcomer in life [Rev. 12:11] and you can do anything if you submit to Christ [Phil. 4:13], because greater is he that is in you (Christ) than he who is in the world (Satan) [1 John 4:4].
In fact, if you first submit to God, you can rebuke the devil and he will flee from you. [James 4:7]. You now have the ability to suppress the old man in you [your previous behavior influenced by Satan] and you can magnify your new man [your divine nature who is now in Christ]. This is an ongoing process. Your faith must not waver. You must not doubt what the word instructs you to do. You must trust God, submit to Him, stay in the word, and act out your faith, remembering that James said faith without works is dead.
When we get older and reflect on our lives, we can see how we have grown physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And we will have gone through, what I call, life seminars. These will be life experiences, good and bad, big, and small, that will be teaching lessons from which we hopefully have learned things (pearls of wisdom). And God willing, we would have learned things from which we will gain skillful and Godly wisdom which will enable us to make better choices and decisions in life.
We will see that the brotherly love and the eros love do not come up to the agape’ love. Just like the word says…the grass will wither, but the word of God will be here forever; so, it is with the eros love. Whether you are in an intimate relationship or you are married, at some time in the future the passionate desires of the flesh which come from the eros love will decrease and you will need something stronger to keep your relationship or marriage together. Therefore, it is so important for two people who plan to marry or two people that are married already to not only have God in their lives but to have God at the center of their marriage. The man and woman are two strands of three-strand cord that makes a successful marriage.
God is that third and most important strand. It is very true that when a man marries a woman, he leaves his mother and father, joins with his wife and they become one flesh. But it is even more important that their flesh is joined with [interacts with] God’s spirit. It is of utmost importance that all three be of one mind. It is most important that we get on the same page with God and have the mind of Christ. We must never forget that God [the Godhead] is our creator. We were made in His image. And He is the one who is Sovereign, Knows All, Sees All, has Infinite Wisdom, is Righteous, is the Provider, is the Healer, the one who gives us Peace, and the list goes on. And we were created to please Him and not the reverse.
With all this mind, when we look at what has transpired in our lives, or even the things we may be going through now, consider how blessed you are. If you choose to look around you with eyes wide open, you will see that things in your life could be much worse. And if you think about what Jesus went through for us [because God loves us His most prized creation so much], we are super blessed that we have escaped perdition [destruction]. We should be thanking God the Father every moment for conceiving and initiating His Plan of Salvation for man and Jesus for implementing that plan and accomplishing it.
Jesus was the sinless lamb and the second person of the Godhead who was God the Father’s supreme sacrifice so that our relationship could be restored with Him (reconciled) which would enable us to be part of His family and have eternal life. And this is why God the Father made the name of Jesus higher than any other name. When you think of it, there is no other religion where its god has sacrificed himself for the purpose of reconciliation justification, atonement, and the many other benefits that the believers have when they are saved.
So, when you think of love, do not place the desires of the flesh in high priority. For they are not going to be what holds your relationship or marriage together. And although your trust in each other, reliance on each other, cherishing the presence of one another, dependence on one another, devotion to one another, and safety with one another is good and essential, it is the love you have for God and His love for you that are going to be the determining factors of a successful and lasting relationship and/or marriage. For when you lean on, rely on, believe in, and trust in God, you are observing His word—hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying His word as written in Psalm 119:17 Amplified version.
And you are recognizing the power of God’s word as written in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 which states: All scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and profitable for instruction, for conviction[of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
We also can be thankful that God has provided us with the Bible to be considered as His Operations Manual on how to live a Godly life. We can trust what it says because God does not lie as stated in Num. 23:19, it is tried, tested, and true, and He is willing to go that extra mile to make sure He keeps His promises, thus protecting the integrity of His word in Isaiah 48.
So when we think of what the best part of love is, do not think of the things that stir up the things of the flesh [your feelings and emotions], but instead think of God’s love for you as it is written in John 17:23 when Jesus is praying and says that they [the world] may know that you [the Father] have loved them as You have loved me [the Son, Christ].
Now, can you wrap your arms around that one? God the Father has loved us as much as He has loved His own son. As for me, it will take me a lifetime to get my arms around that verse.
CONCLUSION
When we think of love and what it is that excites us the most, we should not think of earthly things. We should think of the love that God the Father demonstrated for us conceiving His Plan of Salvation for man and what Jesus Christ went through to enable the Father’s plan to be accomplished. We all would be lost and headed for destruction had it not been for Jesus becoming sin for us on the cross. The love you receive from others cannot compare to the love that God has given you. Praise Him and be forever thankful.
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