Remarkable Love
Jesus was remarkable. He was extraordinary, uncommon, and unique. Jesus Christ is God’s remarkable love made manifest to a fallen world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…..
There are several different kinds of love in the Greek language. The first type of love is Eros. This is romantic love characterized by the height of emotional response. Romantic poets write love poems about this passionate type of love.
The second type of love is the Greek word “storge.” This is familial love. This is the tie that binds immediate and extended families together. Family values are common to a tight knit community. As civilizations disintegrate, the bonds of familial love dissolve and the family atomizes and flies apart. Families have been undermined and traditional family values are ridiculed and are considered unfashionable by today’s popular culture.
Phileo is the Greek word for brotherly love. This type of love is characterized by friendship. However, most men today can’t think of six good friends, godly men who would carry their casket at their funeral.
There is a critical spirit that will kill these three types of human love. Those who fall out of love become defensive and break off communication. They stonewall and refuse to talk to each other. According to 2 Timothy 3, in the last days, men will become lovers of pleasrure instead of lovers of God. These last days are characterized by irreconcilable differences between competing factions and between God and men.
The highest kind of love is the Greek word “agape.” This is the remarkable love of God. Jesus said, “a new commandment I give you, that you love one another even also as I have loved you.” Agape is the totally unselfish spiritual love of God. Agape has the capacity to keep on giving without expecting anything in return. Every other type of love is reciprocal. Other types of love require love in return. However, agape is the supernatural unconditional love of God. Agape love persists in the face of rejection and continues regardless of the response of the other party. Agape cannot be deflected by unloveable behavior. God’s love never lets how others treat you determine how you treat them. Agape is rooted in the eternal life that God gave us through his son when we were born again of his Holy Spirit. The love of God is the divine solution for strife and contention. It is the solution for marriages populated by imperfect human beings.
The love of God is the love of hope. It is the assurance of our future in our eternal relationship with Him. John said, these things have I written to you so that ye may know that you have eternal life. God’s spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God.
We can’t love others with the love of God until we love Him above all. When we love the Lord, we can love those around us. Jesus loved the unloveable because he loved with the unconditional love of God. If we are to love our wives we must meet each other at the foot of the cross. We were dead in sin until we came to Christ. For in him is the love of God made perfect. For we who were dead in trespasses and sins has he reconciled through the sacrifice of his son on our behalf.
God loved us so much that even while we were yet sinners, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life. God’s nature is to love the undeserving.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. And thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” To love God, we must die to self. To be set free we must die to the sinful nature we inherited from Adam. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
There is no pure love in my human soul that I inherited from Adam. I cannot love until I’ve been set free by the unconditional spiritual love of God. God never gave up on us because of his great love wherewith he loved us.
As David prayed, have mercy on me O Lord. Not according to my transgressions but according to your loving kindness and tender mercy. I am undeserving, for against thee and thee alone have I sinned. Restore me to an upright condition so that I may return to fellowship. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me and draw me nearer to thee. Order my ways according to thy holy word. Make thy commandment the joy of my heart that by them I might have happy conversation with you O Lord.
When I fail, when I fall from the narrow way, O Lord, may I fall into your net of mercy and grace. Forgive me, restore me, return me to an upright position according to your unconditional love and mercy.
Thank you Lord for your remarkable love. That I may love you with the spirit of Christ in me to the praise of the glory of your grace.
May our lives be an example of the remarkable unconditional Love of our Lord that we may continually offer unto him the sacrifice of praise!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael