THE GREATEST NEED IN CHRISTIANITY-LOVE
While English has only one word for love, Greek has four namely; eros (passionate love), storge (affectionate love), phileo (endearing love) and agape (selfless and sacrificial love).
The kind of love which the believer is to have is agape love, the great love of God Himself. Agape love is the love of the mind, of the reason, of the will. It is the love that goes so far…
-that it loves a person even if he does not deserve to be loved.
-that it actually loves the person who is utterly unworthy of being loved.
Agape love is the love of God, the very love possessed by God Himself. This is what is meant when we say “God is love”. It is the love of God for the ungodly, unworthy sinners and undeserving enemies. This statement can be supported by the following scriptures.
Romans 5:6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly”.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:10 “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
We cannot give what we do not have. Agape love is a gift from God and it can only be experienced if we know God personally. After knowing God personally, the Holy Spirit will pour the agape love into our heart. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5).
According to our savior Jesus Christ, agape love is the greatest thing in our life. “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31).