The Greatest Love of All

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.  Valentine’s Day means different things to different people.  Some people go all out.  The restaurants, greeting card companies and retail stores definitely go all out.

Some of us love this and some of us could care less and for some people, Valentines is a day to be avoided at all costs.

There are 4 main types of love from the Greek language.  Depending on who you ask some will say there are 7 or 8 types, but they really describe different parts of the 4 main types of love.

Eros love is the romantic or erotic love.  It is the love hyped up in movies, TV and books with or without any thought to deep lasting love.

Storge love is familiar or family love.  Philia love is friendship love.

Agape is the strongest love.  This is unconditional love.  This is the ultimate type of love anyone can have.    Agape is described as the love of mankind.  This is the love that God is and operates from.  This is the love that God had when he created the universe, it is the love he has for you from the moment the sperm hit the egg and the spirit joined the body.  It is the love that God will have for you for eternity regardless of what you did or didn’t do and regardless of what you will do.

Agape is the ultimate love.  It is the ability to love all of mankind even the difficult ones, even the ones you don’t agree with, even the ones you have nothing in common with and even the ones committing evil.

Jesus died so that our sins would be forgiven.  This is the ultimate sacrifice.  Jesus paid the price for us to be reconciled back to God and live life to the fullest.  To live a life of agape love.

Mother Teresa was a woman full of agape love.  Her love of children and the poor was her life’s purpose and she fulfilled it by living and breathing her purpose every day.

The world would be a much better place, it would be a beautiful incredible place if we had more agape love.  We could bring heaven to earth if everyone had agape love.  Some people probably think this is impossible.  Nothing is impossible with God.

So how do we bring agape love into our lives and those around us?

Get God!  God is love.  He is the only example of perfect love because he is perfect and he loves everyone.  He doesn’t like our behavior and lifestyle choices.  But he loves us anyway.  The only thing God hates is evil and people who choose to do evil.

Evil is the opposite of love.  Evil is when people are so sold out and worship things other than life such as power, money, greed, sex.  People that will hurt others without a thought to make more money is evil.  People that enslave other people are committing evil.  Love and evil cannot exist in the same body and mind.

So how do we become more Christ like?

1. Get to know God.  Read the Bible.  The Bible has great examples of what to do and what not to do.  It also demonstrates God character and who he is.  God never changes.  He may change his mind if enough people pray but his character never changes.  He loves you and wants the best for you – ALWAYS.
2. Love yourself.  God loves you.  He knew who you were before you were born.  He knows everything there is to know about you and loves you anyway.  Love yourself and the body you were made in.  Your body is a temple that houses the Holy Spirit.  This is why you want to keep your body in good shape and pure and clean.  The more pure you are the better vessel you will be to do amazing things on this earth.  The healthier your body is (physically) will give you a longer life to accomplish more things on this earth (with less aches and pains too.  So, love yourself and take care of yourself.
3. Love your neighbors as yourself.  You can’t love others until you love yourself.  This is why number 2 love yourself is so important.  Love you enemy too?  Yes, even that is possible when you have the mind of Christ.  The closer you get to God and the better you know him the easier it is to love your neighbor (no matter how decrepit their life is).  Does this mean loving the guy who kills baby seals?  Yes.  Does this mean loving the idiot that traffics women and children – yes, love and pray for them.  This does NOT mean condone their behavior.  We should never condone life taking behavior.  That’s why we need law and order.  If your neighbor is not treating his wife or children well, then pray for them and offer help when appropriate.
4. Surround yourself with good influences and protect your mind from anti-God sentiments.  This means being very careful about who you get close to in your life.  It means being very selective about what you watch on TV and listen to in your car or on your phone.  It means being careful about who you do business with and who you do life with.  You can associate with anyone, but your inner circle should eb a very thoughtfully curated groups of friends.

Most people are people persons when they are healthy.  Some of us may be more introverted but can be extroverted when needed.  The healthier and more whole you are as a person (mentally, emotionally and physically) the more capable you are of loving others.

So, to have a great life full of good relationships, develop yourself and your relationship with God.  The more you know about the creator of the universe and your creator, the deeper you will be able to love and live life to the fullest.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Deborah