Morning Sharing: Growing in Genuine Love

 I began my time with God facing Paul’s description of himself: “genuine love”. 

Yes, “love” is “agapè”, meaning the love that desires God’s best for others. 

The “genuine” means that this agapè-love was real in Paul in contrast to the super-apostles whose love was sarky and self-centered. 

To understand this, I begin with what it means that “God is love”, with “love” being agapè, and that the words used for God’s love in the Old Testament Hebrew add nuances of meaning that increase its richness to us. We have been learning how “hesed” means “steadfast love”, the love of God that will always keep his covenant with us. There is another word “ahab”, which emphasizes God’s delight, his tenderness, and his affection towards his people. 

So, in short, when Paul speaks of “genuine love”, he means that his love emulates the love of God. When Paul mentors me/us (as is expressed in I Corinthians 13, the “love chapter”), he obviously wants us to put into practice everything we are taught about loving others as Jesus loves us. 

This makes so clear why Satan wants to convince people that God does not love them. We can only freely give what we have freely received, so deceiving Christians into thinking they are not loved leaves them convinced they are not obligated to love others. 

Personally, the lack of love in my home growing up never did anything to make me think God did not love me. Instead, it made me aware that I needed this supreme love even though I was so ignorant, immature and broken in knowing that that meant. When I look at how unloving church folk have been towards me, it does nothing to make me think God is not loving, but makes me cling to his love, often with a heart pouring out grief and sorrow in the way of “blessed are those who mourn”. 

Perhaps my testimony of growing to know God’s love through all my trials will somehow show God’s love to others in my remaining years. I just know that Paul’s love was constantly tested and constantly proven genuine, and I want the same for mine. No matter what, as they say.

 

© 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)