Love

Yesterday I heard a sermon that answers a question I have been pondering.
Our church is going through a series titled "The Mark of a Christian". I was getting stuck on the following verse: 1 John 4: 7-8 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

I know people that have not been born of God and do not know God, yet they love (at least they would say they do and I think they do).

The trouble is that English only has one word for love where Greek has 4. They are Storge (affection), Eros (attraction), Phileo (companionship), and Agape (self-sacrificing). Basically, the first three, Storge, Eros, and Phileo, are natural loves (everyone can experience these) and Agape is a supernatural love. Agape is the kind of love God demonstrated for us when Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. That is the kind of love we cannot know apart from knowing God. God is love.

My trusty New Testament Expositor's Bible Commnetary put it this way: "Moreover, God's love for us defines what true love requires- the commitment to sacrifice one's most beloved possession for another's gain."

Before, thinking "How can I show love to this person?" or "How can I love this person"? could easily lead to things that would please that person or make me feel good.

Now it is "What sacrifice can I make (that honors God) for this person?" No surprise, the answers have often had to do with my time and treasures.