Day 7

AGAPE

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

No matter how much we applaud stories of outstanding loyalty and selfless actions in adverse circumstances copying them is sometimes overwhelmingly difficult. People, even those we love, can be awkward, uncooperative, unkind, cruel and oppose the very things we most desire. Are such people really worth the effort? Paul, in Romans 12:9-21, is very definite about how Christ's followers should behave. He is only repeating Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and spelling out Christ's own insistence in John 15:12 "My command is this; love each other as I have loved you." (NIV)

We have been looking at friendship a lot his week. Jesus made a remarkable statement about this in John 15:14. "You are my friends if you do what I command."(NIV)

Is it possible to love like this? Only when we begin to grasp that God's love is deeper and more real than any human love. Romans 5:6-8 goes to the heart of the matter. Jesus died for those unworthy of him and even those who don't care for or about him because he LOVES so much.

Can a Christian act lovingly until he has understood and experienced Christ's love? (1 John 3: 16,18; 4:19-21) Can a Christian love God and not love people? (1 John 1:9-11) Those who are Christ's love others because of him - they don't pretend in order to achieve his approval. See Matthew 25:34-40. It may be that many of the services given are to people we don't especially like but whom we respect because they are loved by our Saviour (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
Loving Father, Let me love as Christ loved.