Agape.
(Note: All these ideas are from the book 'Sex God' by Rob Bell. I highly suggest you check it out.)
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." (Song of Solomon 6:3)
The word love in the Greek language is a specific kind of love. Agape. Ah-Gah-Pay. Agape is a particular kind of love. Love is often seen as a need, something we get from others. Agape is the opposite. Agape gives.
When a husband cares for his wife who has cancer so gently, so carefully; Looks at her as if, if he could, in a heart beat he'd take the cancer for her. That's agape.
Imagine a wife whose husband isn't the man she wishes. He let's her down, again and again and again. So she starts to withdraw from him; picking apart every little thing he does. She dwells only on his failures and points them out time and time again. If he's good, she comes near, but he fails, she stays distant. Her affection, her actions, and ultimately her love become conditional. Not agape.
But what if this woman treated her husband as if he already were the man she wishes he was? What if she agapes him exactly as he is, today, with all of his flaws? If you are him, which is more motivating: being reminded of all your failures and shortcomings, or being loved as if you're a great man?
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love.
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.
There is love because, love in order to, love for the purpose of, and then there is love, period. Agape doesn't need a reason.
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." (Song of Solomon 6:3)
The word love in the Greek language is a specific kind of love. Agape. Ah-Gah-Pay. Agape is a particular kind of love. Love is often seen as a need, something we get from others. Agape is the opposite. Agape gives.
When a husband cares for his wife who has cancer so gently, so carefully; Looks at her as if, if he could, in a heart beat he'd take the cancer for her. That's agape.
Imagine a wife whose husband isn't the man she wishes. He let's her down, again and again and again. So she starts to withdraw from him; picking apart every little thing he does. She dwells only on his failures and points them out time and time again. If he's good, she comes near, but he fails, she stays distant. Her affection, her actions, and ultimately her love become conditional. Not agape.
But what if this woman treated her husband as if he already were the man she wishes he was? What if she agapes him exactly as he is, today, with all of his flaws? If you are him, which is more motivating: being reminded of all your failures and shortcomings, or being loved as if you're a great man?
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love.
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.
There is love because, love in order to, love for the purpose of, and then there is love, period. Agape doesn't need a reason.