Note: First things first and to help, its pronounced a-ga-pe just in case you’re speaking it in your mind as a-gape love.

In the New Testament of the Bible the word love is quite predominant, and it has to be because the main theme of the Bible is that God loves us and that because of that perfect, very gentle, merciful love we should allow ourselves to at the least, consider it, that we might love back, because anything less would be illogical.  And as is the case when TRUE love is practiced, you love the person how they want to be loved, not the way you think they should be loved, its their call, not yours, and God is no different, he has told us how he wants to be loved and we are asked by him to comply…..Fair enough don’t you think?

As God is perfect, he literally took it upon himself to love us way above what we may have requested if we were asked, his love surpasses our level, his love has provided far above what we may ask or think as the Bible tells us.  To love us at the level that he insists he loves us, he had to be crucified for us, he became the ransom necessary so that we have opportunity to become a partaker of the eternal realm, that is extremely hard for our mind to grasp but whether we grasp it or not is irrelevant, he died once and he for all, as the Bible informs us.  He died that we might have the opportunity to Receive the great and indescribable gift of Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that created the Universe and our beautiful earth is the same Spirit that is now available for everybody.  It was the Spirit of God that raised Christ from the dead and that same Spirit that desires to do the same for any who will love God, the way he asks to be loved.

Because of the death of Jesus, the Spirit of God will never leave or forsake any who have received him  (even if we forsake him) for our whole life, and the Bible (Romans 8) confirms that nothing can separate us from this amazing love of God if we decide that treasuring these truths is the most meaningful existence available to us. If any person decides to be faithful to God’s standard, as amazing as this might sound, God will honour you for that, besides never leaving you he promises healing for mind, body and soul, he will be what he just so much wants to be, that is to be a friend, a never failing you friend, a always looking out for you friend and literally and without fear of any contradiction, a caring sympathetic friend.  He promises peace of mind and even better, peace with him, he will answer your prayer and he will bless your life in ways that can barely be imagined, and all of this is as nothing when compared with an existence you will be destined for, an existence that will be eternal, where there is no pain, no death, no tears and where you will have contact with him who died for you….Unbelievable, but TRUE..

But, as mentioned earlier there is a prerequisite for all the great promises becoming a reality and that is that we agree to love the way that he insists we love him.  As Jesus walked with the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemene, where he was to be betrayed, he told them how God wants to be loved.  In John 15:10 we are graciously informed us, that as we keep (support and protect) God’s commands we love him, which basically is what is being stated in verse 7&8, if his Words abide in us, he will bless, because he fully appreciates the efforts necessary to do so.

Agape love is easy to identify, it is faithful to the standards of The Word of God, it does not give up or back off and it despises compromise with a passion.  Agape love is epitomized best by one simple word: honesty. Honest with others honest with ourselves (often not as easy as it sounds) and especially honesty with God…There is an account in Luke where Jesus came across a young man who was rich, this person told Jesus how he had conducted his life up to that point in time, and although things he had done were commendable the Bible tells us that Jesus loved (agape) him and said, there is one thing that you lack, Gods love is like that, it is honest and it deals to the potential of where our life is going.  God doesn’t get mesmerised by what can be extracted from everyday life, he sees our end and wants what is best for us, that’s not a crime it is beautiful agape love. 

God knows that worldly love is very limited so he decided he would provide his version of love, it is called agape love.  Agape love is not emotionally based as is worldly love, it is not variable or transient, and imagination and suspicion are not able to neutralise it unless that is what you want.  The love spoken of in 1Cor13 is Agape love, we are to love God with Agape love and if we decide to do so he will return the favour.

The catch is that Agape love is not naturally part of our humanoid makeup, and that is what the Old Testament and the life of Jesus teaches us.  The Truth is, that on our better days we might be able to not regress, but it’s our not so good days that we prove we are wanting.  Nothing is more obvious in regards to this than the forsaking of Jesus, by everybody.  I mean how on earth could the whole city (as the Bible records) come out and cry out, “crucify him, crucify him” as they did, where were the people who witnessed his many miracles, where were the people who got healed, where was Lazarus who had only very recently been raised from the dead and where were the disciples.

It actually doesn’t really matter where they were, the point is something was lacking and God knew exactly what it was, it was the ability to remain clear-minded when under pressure, So Jesus died to meet this serious flaw that basically haunts us, the flaw being we are Agape loveless.  When we receive the Holy Spirit, the AGAPE love of God is shed abroad in our heart, the Bible informs us so, and because of that we can be faithful, God’s version of faithful.  We can keep his Word and we can have our life transformed and we are made stronger than the hindrances that want to hassle us.  There is another massive advantage that Agape love induces into an on-going Spirit-Filled and led, person, and that is the desire to break out of the here and now that so easily consumes us, to be able to embrace God inspired happenings that are afar off, both in the past and the future. 

In my case I don’t recall ever consciously thinking anything about God or Jesus prior to the day I was baptised, and even then it was quite vague, but after being baptised in the Holy Spirit only a few days later I marveled at how quickly the past and future (of what God had done, was doing and will do) became important to me and not just a bit important but big-time important, like  the most important thoughts my mind could have.  For the first time ever, I considered the year I was born and the fact it was that many years since the year of our Lord, and that the years before him were BC (before Christ), I marveled also that one person could be so influential. In a very short time the life and sayings of that solitary person became important to me and then his death, his radical death and his resurrection, how could that be? And the writings of the Book of Acts and how that being the standard till the Great return of Christ and the future beyond that, eternal kingdom, no death or sorrow, seeing Jesus and I assume even talking with him, meeting the apostle Paul and Daniel and Moses, seriously incredible and yet I had never thought any of these thoughts even once in 20 years, but now they are part of my being without me making an effort for them to be so, and now, many years later can only conclude that it is another priceless gift that is part of the astounding package that is graciously given to us, Agape love is a treasure we all should seek and find

We are informed by God’s Word that flesh and blood does NOT inherit the Kingdom of God, we don’t need to put on an act, we don’t have to FEEL saved and we don’t have to hype things up to feel saved. Too easy!!!, but we do need to get real and grasp that the answer for life, the answer we all yearn for if we are honest with ourselves, required the horrendous death of a person who cared more for us than we do for ourselves.