1 Corinthians 13:13, New International Version

“And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Love in this key passage is translated from the Greek word which many Christians may have heard of or even be familiar with “Agape” and it is defined in this way: Affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love, love feasts.

The word Agape is very deep in that, it combines that concept of love with the concept of benevolence. Benevolence is when an individual acts in a selfless way. When a person is acting in benevolence they are giving without the desire or expectation of receiving anything in return.  

This is significant because it makes it very clear that when we Biblically love something or someone, our love is not self- focused. What do I mean by that? In order to try to gain an understanding let's take a moment and contrast the Biblical image of true love with what we see love being defined as in today’s world: An intense feeling of deep affection, a great interest in and pleasure in something, to like and enjoy something very much.

If we consider this worldly definition we can come to this conclusion- love is all about me. When I have an intense feeling of affection…. that is “love.” When I find myself interested in something and receive pleasure from it– that is “love.” When I enjoy something a lot… that is love. If we take that further, we can then say that. when I don't feel an intense feeling or affection… I don’t love. If something is no longer interesting to me and I no longer am feeling pleasure from it… I don't love it. When I don't enjoy something (i.e. when it is not fun anymore) ... I don't love.

When we actually consider this and truly take a moment to comprehend we will see that worldly love, the love that is of the flesh, is entirely self-centered and self-focused. What am I getting out of this? How does this make me feel?  

You see the reality is that true love comes only from and through the Lord. God is love and when we are not connected to Him we are not connected to the source of love. If you desire to know true love in your life, ask Jesus to show it to you today and your life will never be the same!