Written by Joel Deacon - Lead Pastor of City on a Hill Wollongong

LOVE - PART 1

In our world, love is a generic, fluffy and overused word. But in the ancient Koine Greek of the New Testament, love was described with four different words:

• Agape describes love that is self-giving, sacrificial and covenantal.
• Phileo describes love that is warm, affectionate and friendly.
• Storge describes love that a family experiences, the kind of love a parent has for a child.
• Eros describes romantic and passionate love.

And in the New Testament, all of these words except eros are used to describe love. Now, the Bible is not against eros love. Just read the Song of Songs! But the Bible uses multiple words for love to deepen our understanding of what love truly is.

WHAT IS LOVE

You see, when our world thinks of love, it pictures cute red roses and red hearts. But this is not how the Bible defines love.

Jesus says in John 15 (ESV), “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you… Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

The gospel is the story of God’s love so deep and so costly that it changes the people who receive it. A reckless, gracious, unbelievable love. A love that pursues sinners. A love that forgives enemies. A love so overwhelming we need the Holy Spirit to understand it. And when the Spirit pours God’s love into our hearts, God changes us into people who love like Jesus. Not with a soft or sentimental love, but a love that is courageous, sacrificial, fiery and powerful. A love like God’s love.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “If God is Love, he is, by definition, something more than mere kindness… You asked for a loving God; you have one… not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way… but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds… provident as a father’s love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting.”

PURSUE LOVE
In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul teaches what love is, and how spiritual gifts without love are pointless. And then in 1 Corinthians 14:1 (ESV) Paul says something interesting, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.”

You may not know this, but the Greek word for "pursue" here is not gentle. Paul is not saying, if you feel like it, or when you’re up for it, chase after love. No, the Greek word diōkō is active and strong. It means to chase down, pursue with determination and urgency. Make it your mission in life to learn what genuine love is and to show it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said in John 13 (ESV), “… love one another: just as I have loved you… By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”

QUESTIONS:

1. Would people know you are a follower of Jesus by the way you love people?
2. What stops you from pursuing love?
3. Do you genuinely desire spiritual gifts?

CHALLENGE:

Praise God for his love as you reflect on these paintings.