❤️ A Look At Love ❤️
The Bible has a lot to say about love. Very little of it has to do with Valentine’s Day.
Another year, another Valentine’s Day. Or should I say “St. Valentine’s Day”? Most people (especially advertisers and greeting card designers) tend to forget that February 14 was originally a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine. For some reason, his feast day became associated with courtly love about a thousand years ago. Fast forward to early 19th Century Britain, where enterprising printers began selling the first Valentine cards, and the commercialization of love began…
Now most stores fill a rack or two with Valentine’s Day candy, chocolates samplers, cards (either sickly sweet or risqué), heart-shaped balloons, and even love-themed treats for pets. Jewelers do a brisk business in “romantic jewelry,” lingerie shops sell… well, lingerie, every place from florist shops to gas stations sells flowers, cruise lines have special rates for going on that “romantic” trip with your loved one at some point in the future (I guess you just put the itinerary in your Valentine card…), and even your local pizza joint will hang red balloons and paper hearts from the ceiling.
Six different words for love
That’s all done in the name of love, and love is a good thing. As a Christian, you’re probably aware of the fact that there were six different Ancient Greek words for love. There is φιλία (philía), which is affectionate regard or friendship between equals. This could be the love you have for a friend. Next is στοργή (storgē), which best describes the family relationships, but also can mean love of country or enthusiasm for a favorite sports team!
Next up is ξενία (xenía), an ancient Greek concept of hospitality defined in Wikipedia as a social institution requiring generosity, gift exchange, and reciprocity. Moving to the darker side of love, there is φιλαυτία (philautía) or self-love. The Greeks saw this as both a moral flaw of vanity and selfishness, and as a virtue of self-compassion. The philosopher Aristotle, cited again in Wikipedia, considered philautia to be “the root of a general kind of love for family, friends, the enjoyment of an activity, as well as that between lovers.”
ἔρως (érōs) defines sexual passion. This is the one that gets a lot of young people in trouble, thinking having sex with a person means that they’re in love. A note from Wikipedia states that:
Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or and may ultimately transcend particulars to become an appreciation of beauty itself, hence the concept of platonic love to mean "without physical attraction".
And that gets us to the most important form of love, ἀγάπη or agápē. A dictionary defines agápē as “love: esp. brotherly love, charity; the love of God for person and of person for God.” Agape (as it is usually spelled in modern texts) was used in ancient documents to denote feelings for one’s children or spouse, and was also used to refer to the “lovefeast”, the communal meal shared by Christians. Most of us understand agape as the unconditional love of God for His children.
Scriptural references to love
At this point, I’m going to stop explaining and defining, and just give you a chance to read some of the beautiful words about God’s love for us. The first, and probably most widely known, is what is seen in the image above — John 3:16. But there are many more references. Here are a few:
• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
• “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,” (1 Corinthians 13:4)
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:7-12)
• “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”(1 Corinthians 13:13)
• “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:18)
• “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
• “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)
• “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” (Colossians 3:14)
• “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35)
• “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44)
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)
• “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
• “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Prayer.KnowingJesus.com:
Heavenly Father, more and more I come to understand what the Lord Jesus meant when He said that He is one with the Father, and prayed that His disciples may be one. I see that love is a precious union of heart and a sweet communion of spirit, and just as the Father and Son emanate the same powerful love, so we too are to have that same beautiful love developing in us, by the power of the Spirit.
Lord, I pray that the body of Christ may become united as one, and abound in the unity of the spirit more and more in love, not compromising truth but showing a genuine concern for one another. I pray that individually and collectively, we may live godly lives in Christ Jesus and seek to encourage and edify one another, seeking to be of the same mind and having the same godly love for each another.
I pray that we may be united in spirit and in purpose, and that we do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but rather with humility of mind regard the needs of the other as more important than our own. This I ask in the name of Jesus, Who died for us all.
Amen.