So the other night, I was watching some stupid show on the internet. I don't even remember the name of it. Well, this show is about a bunch of high school students that are all pretty promiscuous. While I was watching it, I noticed one thing, they used the word Love, too many times. Every time you turned around, someone in that show was telling someone else that they loved them. I remember one scene where two people had only been dating a couple of days and the guy told the girl he loved her. I mean seriously, how does he know he loves her? He doesn't even know her. Well this all got me to thinking, do we as humans put here by God, even know what Love means anymore? There are many types of love, but I only want to talk about a couple.
First, the type that everyone assumes, attractive love. Now I don't know the technical names (Greek) but you'll get the point. This is the love that you have for say your wife or husband. Well, these days there seems to be no meaning to this type of love. Guys throw it around to make a girl do something she may not normally do or won't do in a relationship until she hears those three little words. Plus, this type of love has to grow, you can't just meet someone and immediately be in love with them. You are, however, intrigued by them and want to get to know them but you are NOT by any means in love with them. It's so nice to see when two people are truly in love though and you can tell when they are. For example, I have two friends that have been dating for months now almost a year and have never said that they love each other. I know for a fact though, that once they do finally, if they do, say that they love each other, that they will truly mean it.
Secondly, there is the type of love for a friend. This love is in a category of its own. This is when you truly care about someone and if anything were to happen you would be there for them in any way that you could. I know you all know someone that you love in this manner. Now, granted, you may never tell them that you love them, but you do. Take for example your best friend. Now, they have a bad car accident and are in bad shape. Your gonna feel hopeless like there was something you should have done. You go through all of these emotions but you never stop to think about the fact that you love them. Like I said, it may never be spoken but it doesn't change the fact that it is still there.
The last type of love that I want to address is Agape love or unconditional love. Now this love is special. This is the love that a parent shares for a child, but more importantly, this is the love that God, our Father in Heaven, has for us as his children. Everyone probably knows the verse by heart. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one, and only son, that whoever believes in him should not parish, but have everlasting life." I know it's used a lot but listen to that. God loved us, sinners, unclean, scum, so much that he let his son, Jesus, come to earth and die not just any death, but the most cruel death imaginable at the time, so that we could have the opportunity to be in Heaven with him. That's powerful. Jesus was tested at one point by some scholars as to what the Greatest commandment was, and his reply was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Love is an important emotion for us to realize. In the book of John, he records for us an account where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Well, when I first read that, I didn't know what to think. I mean I was like, come on Jesus why did you ask him three times the same question. What I didn't realize at the time was that there is more than one type of love. In the original translation, his asked Peter using three different words for love. See today, we only use one word, and it covers everything. What Jesus was actually getting at is, and I'm paraphrasing, "Peter do you love me unconditionally?" Now if you know about the death of Jesus and the steps leading up to it, you'll remember that Peter denied knowing or being associated with Jesus three times. Now do you think that's a coincidence that both situations were three times? Any way, back to my point, if Peter had loved Jesus unconditionally, he would never have rejected Jesus. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not by any means saying that Peter didn't love Jesus, but he didn't love him unconditionally. Now God loves us unconditionally, because even when we are sinning, he says, "Come back, I love you. I want you to be with me." We just have to be listening and answer that call if and when we get to that point.
First, the type that everyone assumes, attractive love. Now I don't know the technical names (Greek) but you'll get the point. This is the love that you have for say your wife or husband. Well, these days there seems to be no meaning to this type of love. Guys throw it around to make a girl do something she may not normally do or won't do in a relationship until she hears those three little words. Plus, this type of love has to grow, you can't just meet someone and immediately be in love with them. You are, however, intrigued by them and want to get to know them but you are NOT by any means in love with them. It's so nice to see when two people are truly in love though and you can tell when they are. For example, I have two friends that have been dating for months now almost a year and have never said that they love each other. I know for a fact though, that once they do finally, if they do, say that they love each other, that they will truly mean it.
Secondly, there is the type of love for a friend. This love is in a category of its own. This is when you truly care about someone and if anything were to happen you would be there for them in any way that you could. I know you all know someone that you love in this manner. Now, granted, you may never tell them that you love them, but you do. Take for example your best friend. Now, they have a bad car accident and are in bad shape. Your gonna feel hopeless like there was something you should have done. You go through all of these emotions but you never stop to think about the fact that you love them. Like I said, it may never be spoken but it doesn't change the fact that it is still there.
The last type of love that I want to address is Agape love or unconditional love. Now this love is special. This is the love that a parent shares for a child, but more importantly, this is the love that God, our Father in Heaven, has for us as his children. Everyone probably knows the verse by heart. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one, and only son, that whoever believes in him should not parish, but have everlasting life." I know it's used a lot but listen to that. God loved us, sinners, unclean, scum, so much that he let his son, Jesus, come to earth and die not just any death, but the most cruel death imaginable at the time, so that we could have the opportunity to be in Heaven with him. That's powerful. Jesus was tested at one point by some scholars as to what the Greatest commandment was, and his reply was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Love is an important emotion for us to realize. In the book of John, he records for us an account where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Well, when I first read that, I didn't know what to think. I mean I was like, come on Jesus why did you ask him three times the same question. What I didn't realize at the time was that there is more than one type of love. In the original translation, his asked Peter using three different words for love. See today, we only use one word, and it covers everything. What Jesus was actually getting at is, and I'm paraphrasing, "Peter do you love me unconditionally?" Now if you know about the death of Jesus and the steps leading up to it, you'll remember that Peter denied knowing or being associated with Jesus three times. Now do you think that's a coincidence that both situations were three times? Any way, back to my point, if Peter had loved Jesus unconditionally, he would never have rejected Jesus. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not by any means saying that Peter didn't love Jesus, but he didn't love him unconditionally. Now God loves us unconditionally, because even when we are sinning, he says, "Come back, I love you. I want you to be with me." We just have to be listening and answer that call if and when we get to that point.
