Agape: Understanding God's love for mankind.
Agape is the unconditional love of God Almighty, the creator of everything seen and unseen, the beginning and the end.
Love has many definitions according to different traditions, languages and cultures. Agape is the unconditional love of God Almighty, the creator of everything seen and unseen, the beginning and the end.
Love, according to the Cambridge English dictionary is the feeling of liking another adult very much and being romantically and sexually attracted to them, or strong feelings of liking a friend or person in your family. This is just one of the many worldy definitions of love. Have you ever asked yourself the kinds / types of love?
There are four major kinds of love i.e. Storge, Eros, Agape and Philio. These kinds of love all talk about this feeling / tradition from different aspects of life. Storge is the love for family and is sometimes called the familiar love. Its in the line of an empathy bond between family members. Eros is the romantic love between two people. This is the kind most portrayed in the media and the one most people think about when the word love is mentioned to them. Philia is the kind of love between friends but the bond is as strong as that of brothers or sisters. This one is the "best-friend" kind of love.
Agape, the Unconditional Love
Agape is the unconditional selfless love of God, Almighty. This kind of love is not a feeling, yes you read that right and no its not a typo. Agape, is the revelation of God. Agape is the person of God. The Bible says in 1 John 4: 8 (AMP)
'The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] '
Here, the Bible is talking about Agape love and thus it says He that Agapeth not knoweth not Agape, for God is Agape.
It's interesting to note that all the other kinds of love are conditional. For Storge, this kind of love does not apply if you are not family. For Eros, well, its obvious since the condition is you have to be in a romantic relationship. For Philio, one has to be your friend for this kind of love to apply.
God does not need us to love him first, instead he first loved us and we ought to simply respond to this love. The Bible says 'In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath]. ' 1 John 4:10
Resting in God's love
We have all been judged by the world due to different things about us. It could be that you are an alcoholic, maybe you are drug addict, or maybe people around you think you are failure that never amounts to much, or you are poor, sickly and any other "labels" you might have been given.
You need to understand that once you learn how to respond to God's love, this Agape kind of love, you will begin to experience his amazing saving grace and he shall change you, clean you up and present you to himself. This is because nothing is impossible with God.
God loves you so much, infact he sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for your sins. Simply put, he dealt with the original sin of Adam and thus releasing you from the bondage of sin and its effects.
Knowing that he loves you unconditionally means you need to stop judging yourself and constantly remember that he loves you. Getting this in your heart shall reveal God to you in a personal way and you shall begin to grow in response to his Agape.
Here is a video which I think sums up Agape in a short and precise way, enjoy.
Hope you learnt something new, incase of any inquires or feedback, reach out to me on Twitter.