The Greek Word for God's Unconditional Love is Agapē

Agapē:      The Love God Pours Into Our Hearts

Receive It.      Live It.      Give It Away.

If there is one little Greek word that has completely changed the way I understand God,

it is:

agapē.

It is a tiny word...

with an enormous heart.

The New Testament uses   agapē   to describe the extraordinary love that comes from God.

Not a love that must be purchased.

Not a love that has to be earned.

Not a love that disappears the moment we disappoint Him.

God's love does not arrive with an expiration date,

a performance review,

hidden fees,

or a receipt that says:

“Returns accepted within thirty days.”

God loves us because love is part of who God is.

John says it about as clearly as words can say it:

“God is love.”

And then Scripture tells us something even more remarkable.

God doesn't merely show us His love from a distance.

He pours it into our hearts.

Romans says:

“God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Think about that.

God doesn't hand us a teaspoon of love and say,

“Try to make this last.”

He pours it into us.

God Is the Source of Agapē

The first great truth about agapē is wonderfully simple:

Love      —      agapē      —      begins with God.

First John tells us:

“Love comes from God.”

Then:

“God is love.”

That means love is not simply one of God's many hobbies.

God doesn't occasionally remember to be loving when His schedule allows.

Love flows from His very nature.

Deuteronomy describes Him as the faithful God,

keeping His covenant of love across generations.

His love is faithful.

Steady.

Patient.

Merciful.

And far bigger than anything we could manufacture for ourselves.

Human love can be wonderful,

but human love can also become surprisingly complicated.

Sometimes we love because somebody loves us.

Sometimes because someone is kind to us.

Sometimes because they agree with us.

Sometimes because they remembered our birthday.

Then they forget the birthday,

leave the dirty dishes in the sink,

park in our favorite spot,

or cheer enthusiastically for the wrong football team...

and suddenly the terms and conditions of the relationship appear to require renegotiation.

God's agapē is different.

He does not wake up one morning and announce:

“I've reviewed your recent performance and have decided to love somebody else.”

His love remains.

Grace Means We Can Come Home

That truth has brought enormous comfort to my own life.

Like everyone else,

I can look backward and see failures.

Mistakes.

Sins.

Bad decisions.

Times when I chose my own will instead of God's.

For many years,

those memories made it difficult for me to believe that God could truly forgive me.

Surely there had to be some limit.

Surely I had exceeded the heavenly warranty.

But that is what grace taught me.

God's mercy is greater than my past.

Grace continually says:

“Come home.”

God does not wait until we become perfect before loving us.

If He did,

heaven would have a terribly small mailing list.

Instead,

His love reaches us where we are

and begins transforming who we become.

Love God With Everything

Jesus reminds us that the great commandments of Scripture can be gathered into something beautifully simple.

Love God with:

all your heart,

all your soul,

all your strength,

and:

all your mind.

Then:

Love your neighbor as yourself.

In Luke 10,

when the expert in the Law gives that answer,

Jesus tells him:

“You have answered correctly.      Do this and you will live.”

Those words are enormously important.

"Do this and you will have eternal life."

Jesus doesn't merely ask us to possess correct information about love.

He says:

Do it.

Live it.

Give it away.

Make love visible.

That means agapē must eventually leave the dictionary.

It has to get up,

put on its shoes,

and walk into somebody else's life.

Jesus Raises the Standard

Then Jesus takes love even further.

He tells His disciples:

“As the Father has loved me,      I also have loved you.      Remain in my love.”

And elsewhere He commands:

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

That is an astonishing standard.

Jesus isn't saying:

“Love people as long as they're pleasant.”

Or:

“Love people until they become inconvenient.”

Or:

“Love people provided they agree with you on every important subject.”

He says:

Love as I have loved you.

That is agapē.

Self-giving love.

Patient love.

Forgiving love.

Love that seeks the good of another person.

And thankfully,

God does not simply hand us that command and then stand back saying:

“Good luck with that.”

Romans tells us that His love is      poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

The love originates with God.

The Holy Spirit brings that love into our hearts.

And then we are called to let that love flow outward toward other people.

We Are Not the Factory

This is very important to my understanding of Centering Prayer.

I don't believe we manufacture agapē through sheer willpower.

I am not the factory.

God is the source.

The Holy Spirit pours God's love into us.

Our job is to stop blocking the pipeline.

Sometimes pride blocks it.

Sometimes anger blocks it.

Sometimes resentment blocks it.

Sometimes fear blocks it.

And occasionally an argument from eleven years ago is still sitting there with its arms crossed insisting that it has no intention of moving.

Centering Prayer helps me surrender those things to God.

I become still before Him.

I listen.

I allow Him to correct me.

And little by little,

He teaches me to love.

“How May I Serve You Today?”

Every morning I become quiet before the Lord and ask:

“Jesus,      how may I serve You today?”

Then I listen.

Not because I'm trying to unlock secret information.

Not because I'm trying to solve a heavenly riddle.

And not because I think God has misplaced His daily planner and needs my assistance organizing the universe.

I am spending time with Someone I love.

Friendships grow through communication.

Families grow through communication.

Marriages grow through communication.

It should not surprise us that our friendship with God grows through communication too.

And friendship requires something many of us find surprisingly difficult:

Listening.

My Mind Has Other Plans

I've discovered that one of the greatest obstacles to listening isn't God's unwillingness to communicate.

It is my remarkable ability to fill every quiet moment myself.

My thoughts can travel through tomorrow's schedule,

yesterday's mistake,

today's chores,

next year's taxes,

the car needing gasoline,

something foolish I said to my wife,

and the guilt that I missed church last Sunday...

all before my feet touch the floor.

My mind has an astonishing travel budget.

If my imagination ever opens a travel agency,

I am convinced it will specialize in:

Round-trip tickets to everywhere at once.

Centering Prayer is my daily invitation to cancel a few of those reservations.

I become still.

The noise begins settling.

My heart becomes attentive.

Not perfect.

Just attentive.

The Spirit of Truth Leads Us

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is:

“the Spirit of truth.”

He says the Spirit will guide us into truth.

That matters tremendously.

If we believe we are being led by God,

the direction should increasingly resemble God.

Truth.

Love.

Mercy.

Humility.

Forgiveness.

Peace.

Service.

The Holy Spirit is not going to pour God's agapē into our hearts on Monday

and then teach us hatred on Tuesday.

God's character doesn't change with the weather.

This gives us one of the great tests of spiritual discernment:

Does what I believe I am hearing lead me toward God's love?

Does it help me love God more?

Does it help me love His children more?

Does it make me more forgiving?

More patient?

More gentle?

More willing to serve?

If not,

I need to stop and listen more carefully.

Obedience Is Love in Motion

Little by little,

I have learned that obedience is not merely following orders.

Obedience can become an expression of love.

Jesus says:

“If you keep my commandments,      you will remain in My love.”

That doesn't mean we're purchasing God's love with good behavior.

God's love came first.

We obey because we are learning to trust the One who loves us.

When God puts it on my heart to encourage someone,

I try to do it.

When He leads me toward forgiveness,

I try to forgive.

When I believe He is telling me to help someone,

I try to help.

And when I strongly believe He is telling me:

“Bill,      you don't need to say what you're currently preparing to say...”

I am slowly learning that this also qualifies as divine assistance.

Sometimes unconditional love has remarkably good timing.

Agapē Changes the Person Carrying It

The more we experience God's love,

the more that love begins changing us.

Bitterness starts losing its grip.

Resentment becomes harder to justify.

Our need to win every argument begins weakening.

Forgiveness becomes possible.

Compassion grows.

And gradually,

the people around us begin encountering something more than our personality.

They begin encountering the fruit of God's work within us.

That's important because God's love was never intended to stop inside us.

A reservoir that never releases water eventually becomes stagnant.

God pours agapē into our hearts so that we can pour it into the lives of others.

Receive it.

Live it.

Give it away.

Then receive more.

Made to Reflect God's Love

Scripture tells us that humanity was created in the image of God.

And Scripture tells us:

“God is love.”

That gives me a beautiful way of thinking about what God is doing within us.

As the Holy Spirit transforms us,

we increasingly reflect God's character.

We become more loving.

More patient.

More merciful.

More forgiving.

More generous.

More gentle.

In that sense,

God's agapē begins shining through an ordinary human life.

Not because we have become God.

But because the God who is love is transforming His children into people who increasingly look like His love.

That is beautiful to me.

You Will Know Them by Their Love

Jesus told His followers that people would recognize His disciples by their love for one another.

Think about what that means.

He didn't say the great identifying mark would be:

the largest building,

the loudest preacher,

the most impressive sign,

the longest theological vocabulary,

or the ability to win every argument on the Internet.

He pointed toward:

love.

Agapē.

People should be able to encounter Christ's disciples

and experience something different.

Grace.

Kindness.

Patience.

Mercy.

Peace.

A willingness to forgive.

A willingness to serve.

A love that doesn't constantly ask:

“What am I getting in return?”

That kind of love becomes evidence that God is at work within us.

Knowing God Changes Love

First John says something extraordinary:

“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

That connects love with      knowing God.

For me,

that is another reason Centering Prayer matters.

We cannot build a friendship with someone we never take time to know.

And we cannot listen to someone while we are doing all the talking.

So I become quiet.

I ask:

“Jesus,      how may I serve You today?”

Then I listen.

As I listen,

I learn to trust.

As I trust,

I become more willing to obey.

As I obey,

I experience more of God's work within my life.

And as His agapē fills my heart,

I have more love to give away.

The Love That Never Walks Away

That is what I have discovered about agapē.

It begins with God.

God is love.

It is poured into our hearts.

Through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us to remain in it.

Remain in My love.

Then He commands us to share it.

Love one another as I have loved you.

And He tells us to love God with everything we have

and love our neighbors as ourselves.

For me,

Centering Prayer is not simply sitting quietly.

It is learning to know the One who first loved me.

It is becoming still enough to experience His presence.

It is listening for His direction.

It is obeying because I trust Him.

And it is allowing His unconditional love to flow through me toward His other children.

The more I know God,

the more deeply I love Him.

The more deeply I experience His love,

the more difficult it becomes to keep that love to myself.

And perhaps that is exactly how God designed agapē.

It was never supposed to stop with us.

It enters our hearts...

changes us...

and then spills over.

So tomorrow morning,

I will once again become still before Jesus.

I will quiet the noise.

I will open my heart.

And I will ask:

“Lord Jesus...      how may I share Your love today?”

Then I will listen.

Because the God who is love

has already poured His agapē into our hearts.

Our calling now is beautifully simple:

Receive it.

Live it.

And give it away.

Questions for prayer:
          What do these passages reveal about God?
          What response does it ask of me?
          Is the impression I receive consistent with the character and teaching of Jesus?
          What loving and faithful action should follow?

Daily prayer:

How may I serve You this day?”