What God’s Love Looks Like

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4

How does God love? And how can we love the way Jesus loves?

As I mentioned last week, there are very clear differences between God’s kind of love – “Agape” in Greek – and all other kinds of love.

 

First is “Eros” love: the romantic, sensual love we hear so much about in our songs and movies. But “Eros” is a love that tends to be selfish. “Eros” love says, “I love you because you have something desirable that I want.”

 

Second is “Phileo” love: a mutual love between family members or friends. “Phileo” love says, “I love you, knowing that you also love me.”

 

Third is “Agape” – God’s kind of love. It’s a selfless, unconditional love that has no strings attached. Agape love says, “I love you so much that I will put your needs above my needs – even if you spit in my face and put me through hell.”

 

In 1 Corinthians 13, The Apostle Paul describes how agape behaves. In verse 4, he lays out the first five qualities of God’s love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

 

You and I desperately need to behave more like Jesus. We need to be more patient—taking anything from others—and more kind—giving generously to others, even to our enemies. When Jesus commanded us to love one another, He wasn’t just commanding us to THINK kind thoughts and FEEL kind feelings about one another. He was commanding us to actually BE kind one to another.

 

Not to envy means that agape love always wants the very BEST for the other person – even if it’s at your own expense. And boasting – bragging about the things we have, or our accomplishments – is the total opposite of God’s love. Pastor John MacArthur writes: “Jesus, who had everything to boast of, never boasted. In total contrast, we who have nothing to boast of are prone to boast. Only the love that comes from Jesus Christ can save us from flaunting our knowledge, our abilities, our gifts, or our accomplishments.”

 

And just as envy and boasting can’t coexist with agape love, neither can arrogance. You can either have a big arrogant head, or you can have a big loving heart. You can’t have both. Which will it be for you?

 

Here are 3 Life Lessons we can take from this verse:

 

Lesson #1: If you’re going to love, don’t love the way our culture loves – love the way Christ loves.

 

Lesson #2: In our culture, where impatience and unkindness are all around us, Christ’s followers must swim against the tide. Our patience with impatient people and our kindness to unkind people should be unmatched.

 

Lesson #3: If we truly love God and people, we will work with the Holy Spirit to root out pride, jealousy and bragging from our lives. We must, in humility, value others above ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

 

Christians, since most people around us have no clue what “agape” love looks like in the real world, let’s show them. Let’s show them real patience and kindness, without even a hint of jealousy, bragging or arrogance.

 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person or online at 9 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.