AGAPE
God’s Message of Love

The Greeks used three words to describe three distinct relationships, all of which we translate as love. A look at these Greek words will help us distinguish between the love we may have experienced and the love we receive from God.

The first – phileo – describes a kinship type of love. The love that exists between a parent and child, between brothers and sisters, or between close friends.

The second – eros – describes conditional love based upon attraction or personal benefit. We could call it, “I will love you…if you love me….if you are attractive to me….if the relationship will benefit me in some way.”

The third – agape – describes unconditional love. Love that is freely given and unrelated to our deserving it or earning it. It is a self-sacrificing love that reflects total commitment to the one who is loved. The night he was betrayed, Jesus emphasized the significance of the agape relationship by declaring that the greatest expression of love is to lay down one’s life for another.

Agape is the kind of love God has for each of us. Coming face – to – face with agape in the lives of Christians can move us to the point of conversion. When n we experience acts of agape on our behalf, we begin to move toward accepting God’s love for us personally. When people love us with sacrificial, unconditional love, we catch a glimpse of the depth of God’s love for us. That is the purpose of the seventy-two hours…to help you begin to accept how much God loves you.

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