Over the last few days, I could sense that God was stirring in my heart in regards to relationships: friendships, family, romantic relationships, and even relationships with strangers and acquaintances. I had been questioning certain relationships and constantly trying to figure out why God had placed certain people in my path and what my role in those relationships should be. I could not figure out why He had placed this so heavy on my heart, because in my mind I had surrounded myself with exactly the kind of relationships that God desired for my life. But for some reason, the Holy Spirit kept gently knocking on my heart through sermons, scripture and conversations with friends, and last night it became evident as to why. He led me to 1 Corinthians 13 and after reading through a passage that I’ve heard probably a hundred times, I could sense that God wanted me to dive deeper into the scripture to fully understand what He had placed onto my heart and why
In this passage of scripture, the apostle Paul is addressing the church of Corinth about love, in what is probably one of the most well-known passages of scripture. Does “love is patient, love is kind…” come to mind? Because if it does, then you are absolutely right but just keep reading.
Love is a word that because of overuse and misuse, has at times lost its meaning in our society. However, love is the primary characteristic that identifies a believer in Christ (John 13:35). I want to be known as a believer and disciple of Christ, which means that I should be identified by the way that I love others. The hardest part for me to come to terms with over the last few days was that I probably haven’t been identified in that way in most of my relationships. I want to love like Jesus loves- unconditionally and without partiality. I will be the first to admit that I overuse the word love on a daily basis, but this past week a good friend reminded me that love is an action word, not just a feeling we express to one another. Jesus’s ministry was an action ministry of love for everyone he came into contact with and even those he didn’t, and my desire is to strive to be like Jesus on a daily basis no matter how many times I fall short of that.
After coming to that realization, I decided to take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 13 and discovered that in the Greek language there are four different uses of the word love:
- EROS: is the sensual relationship; a romantic love
- STORGE: pertains to family relationships and obligations
- PHILEO: is the love among friends, as close as brothers or sisters
- AGAPE: is a totally unselfish love that comes from God alone- the type of love that chooses to continue selflessly loving someone even when he or she makes it difficult. Christ’s sacrifice and His love model what it means to choose to love.
I want to choose agape love. Agape love is selfless. Agape love gives itself completely with no thought of anything in return. It’s the reasoning, esteeming, willful type of love. It was agape love that sent Jesus to the cross. It is agape love that we as a body of Christ should be showing to both believers and nonbelievers on a daily basis. Agape love is a love that forgives- it may not always forget, but even when it remembers, it still forgives. Agape love is a sacrificial, steady, timeless, love that should be my first priority because it is God’s greatest commandment.
…and it was the agape love of 6 people that led me to post this blog today:
I would be lying if I said that beginning the fundraising process has not been a spiritual battle. I knew that God was going to use fundraising to teach me to rely on His ultimate provision instead of my own abilities, but I never imagined that He would work on my heart the way that He has in just a matter of days. Not only am I fundraising for the World Race in October, but I am also simultaneously fundraising for a short-term mission trip to Haiti in March. My plan was to self-fund the mission trip to Haiti so that I could focus all of my fundraising efforts on the World Race since it is a much larger sum of money… but as always, God had a different plan and His plan is far greater than my own. After sending out support letters last week for the World Race, I had an unsettling feeling that I was not going to be able to go to Haiti anymore. I had spent the last few weeks posting, blogging, and talking about the World Race that I had failed to continue to reach out for support for Haiti. I was feeling pretty defeated yesterday; discouraged would have been an understatement.
I came home from my small group meeting late last night and despite exhaustion and an obvious need for sleep, I dove into 1 Corinthians 13 because of the tug on my heart regarding relationships. It was wonderful, uplifting and eye-opening and was the inspiration that I needed to refocus my life on choosing agape love every time. I had asked God to give me guidance and direction in that area of my life and was about to go to bed with a happy heart, but wanted to check my email really quickly.
I was in complete awe of His impeccable timing when I checked both emails for the World Race as well as my Haiti trip to see that between the two trips, 6 different people had chosen to donate to my trip over the last few days, including 1 anonymous donation. 6 people that I had not reached out to in the fundraising process. 6 people who chose agape love and selflessly gave to my trips without me even asking them to. Without even knowing it, God was using those 6 people to teach me how to love others better and to turn my faith from a point of selfishness to a point of selflessness. It’s not about what God can do for me anymore, it’s about what God can do through me and that starts with me learning how to choose agape love each and every time.
So to those 6 individuals, THANK YOU. You truly are an inspiration. Thank you for allowing God to use you and being obedient to what He had placed on your heart to give. You probably did not even realize it at the time, but He was using you to completely change my heart.
