CMS Devotional- Agape Love
This was written by Joseph Neal who is host of Christian Media Spotlight: my prayer is that it encourages anyone that needs a word from the Father today- let's do this love walk well!
-As many of you know, Night of Hope 9 has the newly minted subtitle of “Agape Love” in part due to its proximity to Valentines Day. Unlike Valentines Day though - regardless if you are happily married for decades, struggling through separation or divorce, or still single looking for that perfect companion - God’s perfect agape love is for EVERYONE.
In Scripture we understand that without love we are a clanging symbol, and of faith, hope and love - the greatest of these is love. Our love walk must be at the core of who we are as people after God’s own heart. 1 Corinthians 13 gives us the perfect example of what love is exactly "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Corinthians also tells us if we have all faith to move mountains but have not love, we…have.. nothing. Scripture definition of what love is flies in the face of what we see as love paraded out in todays society, but needs to be at the core of how we model love in every relationship in our lives. We must show kindness and patience, think of the people we care about more than ourselves, rejoice in the truth, celebrate with our brothers and sisters in good times and victories, and pray for one another in weaknesses and struggles in everyday life issues that we all go through. Like any real relationship we have, love isn't always easy
- relationship with the Father takes dedication, perseverance and doing our part to make the relationship work. Luke 10:27 exhibits this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” It tells us to love the Lord with everything we have - when we receive this agape love in its fullness and are dedicated to living it out in our own lives - we can then love our neighbors effectively as God loves us. When we receive His love and healing in full - and lay the hurt baggage, pain, and sorrow at the foot of the Cross where we can then take his yoke which is light - we can then more fervently love others in the same manner which He loves us. Galatians 5 teaches us about the very freedom that we walk in but not to use it as a means to serve our flesh but to serve others - and that of all the fruits of the spirit it lists - notice the very first thing it lists- love. I want to encourage you and all of us that love isn’t about perfection - striving for excellence yes - but not perfection as is not feasibly attainable. God’s love is perfect - we won’t be - we are always imperfect people serving a perfect God. We shouldn’t walk anymore though walking around defeated as if we aren’t worthy of the love God bestows upon us. God’s love is for all of us. Even when imperfect people tend to fail us - God and His perfect love never will. You are worthy of His love -and all the blessings, joy and goodness He wants to bestow upon you - like any good Father - He has a plan to prosper you, give you a future, and will never leave us nor forsake us. I want all of us to be true reflections of the love He has for us reflected out to others. That also means we must allow God to work through every part of who we are - our strengths, our weaknesses, our insecurities, our gifts, and allowing Him to mold us and shape us to be more like Him. He doesn’t want to turn us into something we aren’t - he simply wants to take the best parts of us and our personality and make those shine even brighter. The question is - do we not only love our God with all of our heart - do we trust Him too? As exhibited in any lasting relationship we have where we are comfortable and vulnerable at times with our strengths and weaknesses and trust is important to build with that other person, do we trust our God to work through our weaknesses, imperfections, insecurities, and even strengthen us in our giftings and places where we are strong? God doesn't want us to just trust him with the big decisions and issues, He wants us to trust Him in life's small mundane moments too. A relationship with spouses, friends, parent/child etc. also wouldn't survive real well or be fully healthy if you just went to them if they needed something, or talked with them once a month or even longer. You see - our walk with God should be the same way - we should desire to go to Him and trust Him on a daily basis to keep our faith walk strong. For some of us though- trusting God is a big hurdle to climb. Any major step we make in God requires stepping out of our comfort zone - and is often times not easy, but whether it is dealing with trust, anxiety, worry, doubt, unbelief, or whatever you struggle with - God wants to in its place give you peace that surpasses understanding, joy thats unspeakable, and a hope that is everlasting. It’s worth letting go of what we battle and giving it to a God who can heal our hearts and do so much more with it than we ever could on our own - because part of loving God with all our heart is coming to the realization of we can’t do this walk without Him. Colossians teaches us this : "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” In a time of unrest, uncertainty, anxiousness, doubt and worry in our society and lives - now more than ever - we need to amplify and cling to the one thing that binds us all together in unity: His everlasting agape love. Agape love is more than just a subtitle of a special we are producing, or the focus of a night we celebrate: that love needs to work in us and through us in everything we do - lets let our light shine like never before and let our love for each other and ourselves point the world towards our Savior.
- relationship with the Father takes dedication, perseverance and doing our part to make the relationship work. Luke 10:27 exhibits this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” It tells us to love the Lord with everything we have - when we receive this agape love in its fullness and are dedicated to living it out in our own lives - we can then love our neighbors effectively as God loves us. When we receive His love and healing in full - and lay the hurt baggage, pain, and sorrow at the foot of the Cross where we can then take his yoke which is light - we can then more fervently love others in the same manner which He loves us. Galatians 5 teaches us about the very freedom that we walk in but not to use it as a means to serve our flesh but to serve others - and that of all the fruits of the spirit it lists - notice the very first thing it lists- love. I want to encourage you and all of us that love isn’t about perfection - striving for excellence yes - but not perfection as is not feasibly attainable. God’s love is perfect - we won’t be - we are always imperfect people serving a perfect God. We shouldn’t walk anymore though walking around defeated as if we aren’t worthy of the love God bestows upon us. God’s love is for all of us. Even when imperfect people tend to fail us - God and His perfect love never will. You are worthy of His love -and all the blessings, joy and goodness He wants to bestow upon you - like any good Father - He has a plan to prosper you, give you a future, and will never leave us nor forsake us. I want all of us to be true reflections of the love He has for us reflected out to others. That also means we must allow God to work through every part of who we are - our strengths, our weaknesses, our insecurities, our gifts, and allowing Him to mold us and shape us to be more like Him. He doesn’t want to turn us into something we aren’t - he simply wants to take the best parts of us and our personality and make those shine even brighter. The question is - do we not only love our God with all of our heart - do we trust Him too? As exhibited in any lasting relationship we have where we are comfortable and vulnerable at times with our strengths and weaknesses and trust is important to build with that other person, do we trust our God to work through our weaknesses, imperfections, insecurities, and even strengthen us in our giftings and places where we are strong? God doesn't want us to just trust him with the big decisions and issues, He wants us to trust Him in life's small mundane moments too. A relationship with spouses, friends, parent/child etc. also wouldn't survive real well or be fully healthy if you just went to them if they needed something, or talked with them once a month or even longer. You see - our walk with God should be the same way - we should desire to go to Him and trust Him on a daily basis to keep our faith walk strong. For some of us though- trusting God is a big hurdle to climb. Any major step we make in God requires stepping out of our comfort zone - and is often times not easy, but whether it is dealing with trust, anxiety, worry, doubt, unbelief, or whatever you struggle with - God wants to in its place give you peace that surpasses understanding, joy thats unspeakable, and a hope that is everlasting. It’s worth letting go of what we battle and giving it to a God who can heal our hearts and do so much more with it than we ever could on our own - because part of loving God with all our heart is coming to the realization of we can’t do this walk without Him. Colossians teaches us this : "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” In a time of unrest, uncertainty, anxiousness, doubt and worry in our society and lives - now more than ever - we need to amplify and cling to the one thing that binds us all together in unity: His everlasting agape love. Agape love is more than just a subtitle of a special we are producing, or the focus of a night we celebrate: that love needs to work in us and through us in everything we do - lets let our light shine like never before and let our love for each other and ourselves point the world towards our Savior.
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