Holy Week: Wednesday; The Love of God

The third attribute of God for this Holy Week is love. The Greek word is agape and it has three parts: a decision to love; a commitment to love; and a loyalty to love. According to Ephesians 1:4 God made a decision to love His children before He ever created anything, including them. God also made a decision to be committed to His children. And finally, God decided that He was going to remain loyal to His children never forsaking them.

In Genesis 3 we have the account of sin entering mankind and separating us from God. Immediately God's plan of redemption is put into place and is completed when the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified. Jesus Himself testifies of the love of the Father for His own in John 3:16

Another testimony of God's love for His people is Jesus dying for us when we were still sinners, Romans 5:8. Imagine giving up your life for someone who hated you or denied the truth that you existed. In our fallen estate we were enemies of God,
Romans 8:6-8.

God's love for us means that God accepts us as we are, sinners. He then washes that sin away in the blood of Christ. After Peter denied Jesus he was restored to fellowship by Jesus. In John 21:15-17 Jesus asks Peter twice if he loves Him and Peter says, "yes lord, I love you." Jesus uses the word "agape" for love but Peter responds with the word "phileo" which means a friendly love but not one of commitment and loyalty. The third time Jesus uses the word "phileo" and Peter affirms that he does "phileo" Jesus. Then Jesus accepts Peter back into fellowship and causes Peters love of "phileo" to grow into "agape".

The final truth about God's love is that it originates in Him and in Him alone. We as human beings are not able to love with agape apart from Jesus. In Romans 5:5 we are told that "the Holy Spirit pours the love(agape) into our hearts". Therefore, only believers have their hearts filled with "agape" because of the presence of the Holy Spirit living within us.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ is the love in our hearts "agape" or "phileo?" If I am more in love with myself and the world then "phileo" is the love that is in my heart. However, if I am truly loving the Lord and my neighbor then my heart is filled with "agape". May our hearts always be filled by "AGAPE".