God's Agape

Agape describes God’s love. But we are to love with the love of God made possible through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, right? Not with our own human effort at love, but with God’s love working through us as we surrender to Him to do that work through us.

But remember the points in bold from last posting that tells us what this love will look like as it is manifested in us, by the Holy Spirit:

- The primary object of this love working in us will be God Himself
- To love this way is a deliberate choice versus an impulsive emotion or according to our “feelings”
- Expression of this love is known only from the actions it prompts (words have no value whatsoever unless the action corresponds, therefore the action is of extreme importance, not necessarily the words…we are talking about OUR words here, not GOD’S!)
- One of the actions that this love prompts is implicit obedience to God’s commandments (exactly as Jesus was perfect in His obedience to God)
- Another action it prompts is the desire to help others seek God, the Giver of this love

If we use Betsie as an example, her “agape” for all the concentration camp guards seems to fit every item above, doesn’t it? Corrie, on the other hand, was letting her emotions lead her (which did not appear to be agape towards the guards, in fact, it wasn’t even unregenerated man’s love for the guards…she was doing her best just to not outright hate them!) Can you see how Corrie did not fit all the items listed above, although she did fit some of them. It’s because her flesh was still reacting, but God brought her to that place of absolute surrender later, never fear! Just as He promises to do for us!

What does this say to us then? I think the most important thing is this: because it is God’s love that we are to love others with (and God Himself with), we have to quit trying to do it on our own, because it will never happen that way! God’s love can only work through us to others when we first love God and we can only love God by the power of God Himself…the Spirit of Jesus Christ living within us! We must stop TRYING to be Christ-like in the FLESH! We must BE Christ-like in the SPIRIT by the power of the SPIRIT!

“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:5 KJV)

Our responsibility is not to love others as God does. Our responsibility is to surrender to God so completely that HE loves others through us. Until we have completely surrendered all of our thoughts, feelings, desires, rights….until we have died to SELF…we are not completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

But, thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit is the “promise of God” to us; the Giver of faith to us. So that the work that He begins in us through the Spirit, He also finishes in us, through the Spirit.

“Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3 KJV)

[This blog is an ongoing study of the lives and the faith of Christian women who have experienced and demonstrated victorious living through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The current study is about Corrie ten Boom which began on September 21, 2009.]