Would you die for a loved one, a stranger, or your enemy? What sacrifice would you be willing to make to ensure the life of another person is saved, even though they don’t seem worthy? The very essence and picture of this unconditional, sacrificial love is the definition of God’s agape love. God’s agape love is not based on how good you are or what you do; it is about His grace and mercy within his agape love.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)
Origin of Agape Love
Agape love originates from God alone, but it dwells in us through our salvation in Jesus Christ. “And I have revealed you (God) to them and will keep on revealing you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26, TLB)
Agape love is the only pure love without limits or conditions that can only come from a perfect God and our Creator. In God’s love, he created His plan for us, which included the sacrifice of his Son for us. God gave us his agape love and heart through Jesus.
Jesus gave us his love and life to break the power of sin and death over us. His sacrifice and our salvation through faith in him also means:
- We are reunited with God,
- We are saved from the punishment of our sins,
- We can share the hope and salvation of his gospel, so others are saved,
- We can spend eternity in heaven with them.
God and Jesus have given us their agape love. They have also shown us how to agape-love them in God’s word and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you chose to ask Jesus to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life, did you really understand what that meant? Were you taught how to live in God’s agape love?
Living in God’s Agape Love
If you were not taught the path of living your life for Jesus Christ and your loving Father, God, then you will use your imperfect understanding of love by default. Without God’s truth and revelation, you will be a frustrated Christian, always trying to do better. Unless you study God’s word and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ every day, you will not see or understand how to live in God’s agape love.
When you love someone with all of your heart, you can’t wait to treat them well and to honor and respect them. Jesus died for you and gave you the gift of salvation. However, it is your choice to honor him by your devotion, service, and obedience as you live your life in on earth.
Are you living your life in a way that shows you are devoted to Jesus and worthy of his sacrifice? The two greatest commandments are the basis for how to live our lives. If we followed these two commands, we would honor Jesus and God with our lives.
Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments which are written with agape love. “Thou shalt (agape) love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt (agape) love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt. 22-34-40, KJV)
Choose Agape Love
The Bible is the saving story of the gospel of Jesus. It tells us how to overcome the challenges of our life, our temptations, and our imperfect human condition. Every day we must choose to follow Jesus and to share his gospel through our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions. We can’t say we agape love God and Jesus and live like the devil.
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, we must follow all of the Bible, and that means believers must hold one another accountable. Christ’s disciples must love Jesus so much that we won’t focus on unholy thoughts because “we take them captive and make them obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5). We love others as ourselves, so we don’t belittle, bully, criticize, manipulate, discriminate, hold prejudices, coerce, curse, or abuse them in our attitudes, words, or actions.
It’s time for all people who say they are Christ-followers to live and share the love they have inside. It’s time to live for Christ and not for ourselves or the desires of our sinful flesh. It’s time to learn what it means to be a disciple of Christ and to follow him!
Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God, and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God and that they are getting to know him better. But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God—for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In this act, we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins. (1 John 4:7-10, TLB)
If you are ready to learn about his love design, sign up for the launch announcement of Quest for Exceptional Love, transform your love and relationships through Christ’s design coming soon! Learn more about Quest for Exceptional Love!
