Love with His Kind of Love
ICS Daily Devotions
Luke 6:27,32-33 (NKJV) “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, …..“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
God asked us to love not only our loved ones but also our enemies. We need to renew our minds and understand what Agape love is, so we can love others with Agape love, which is an unconditional love, in contrast to Phileo love, a conditional love.
Phileo love is an emotional love. It means being a friend to someone, being fond of them, or showing affection for another. Friendship love requires attention and is based on the qualities in another person that you find admirable or attractive. Phileo love thrives on reciprocity and cannot endure for long without a response from the other. It gives as long as it receives, thus making it a conditional love.
Romans 5:8 (NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s kind of love, Agape love, is written all over the Bible. God initiated the plan of salvation. He conceived it long before the foundation of the world, by establishing the Abrahamic Covenant, so that He could resolve the sin issue that separated us from Him. It is a love by choice so that all the families of the earth would be blessed without exception. All of us can be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. God demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He has chosen not to leave or forsake us by establishing the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, and not to remember our sins and lawless deeds because of His Agape love for us. God is aware of the weakness of our flesh. Therefore, He has chosen to see us in Christ so that we will always be seen as righteous, holy and blameless. All this is done out of Agape love, in spite of our imperfection. He doesn’t consider our worth because He has chosen to love us irrespective of our current state. Agape love keeps loving because it is unconditional.
Jesus expects us to use the same kind of Agape love towards everyone, Christians and non-Christians, regardless of whether they love us or not. We are to love our neighbours and enemies with this love through the new creation and with His nature within us. This kind of love can only be lived out through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It should be regarded not as a law, but as a natural outflow of the heart. It represents a new lifestyle.
Sermon Series: Dying to Self
