Agape.
Isaiah 1:18:
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
(n.) 1. The basic, central, or critical point or feature.
2. A puzzling problem.
- from Latin: crux, cross.
™ So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.
And the best of the three is love.
Henri Nouwen: Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring,
The resurrection of Jesus is a hidden event. Jesus didn't rise from the dead to prove
to those who had crucified him that they had made a mistake, or to confound his opponents. Nor did he rise to impress the rulers of his time or to force anyone to believe. Therefore, he only showed himself to those who knew about his love.
He made himself known as the risen Lord only to a handful of his friends. There is probably no event in human history that has such importance, while remaining,
at the same time, as unspectacular. The world didn't notice it; only those few to whom Jesus had chosen to show himself, and whom he wanted to send out to announce God's love to the world just as he had done.
Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately-at the end of the ages-become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God. - 1 Pet 1: 18-19