May the mumbling commence!
Welcome to day six of reading First John. This is the third full day of defining a godly love. So far, I have focused on what godly love is. Today, I want to focus on what godly love is not. Read from First John chapter two:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (Verses 15-17)
Now, this passage can get potentially confusing. On the surface, it looks like there is contradiction within the writings of First John and the gospel according to John. Remember John 3:16? "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” If God loves the world, why are we called not to love the world?
Let’s look to the third sentence of this passage. The third sentence defines the world as cravings and lust. In the US, we have blurred the lines of true love with what are truly cravings or lust. Think about some of the statements I make about my various loves… “I love spaghetti.” This kind of love is not the godly love that God calls us to through the Scriptures. I would better say, “I crave spaghetti.”
Or, I may see someone attractive to me and say, “I am falling in love with her.” I might say this and not even know the person. I may have never even met her. I may have only seen an image of her or a video. This kind of love is not the godly love that God calls us to through Scriptures. I would better say, “I lust for her.” I cannot truly love someone until I start on the process of knowing them. Then I begin thinking about the world not as an object to fulfill my desires but as a part of God’s creation that has needs of her own.
In biblical Greek, there is no such blurring. Greek has different words that designate the different types of love. The godly love is expressed in the Greek word agape. Agape, which you may or may not have heard of, is unconditional love that seeks out the concerns and interests of other people. When the author of First John speaks of love, he exclusively uses this word. Agape love touches deeply, where no other kind of love can.
There are other types of love. There is phileo, which means friendly or brotherly affection. This word is the basis for the name of the city Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love. This phileo love can touch us deeply, too.
There is eros, which means sexual love. We get our word of erotic from it. Within the right context – marriage – eros can touch us deeply, too. Each of these can make inroads to our spirit. They can all feel like promptings of the spirit. But they are not always promptings of God’s Holy Spirit. That is one reason why the author of First John pleads with his readers to test the spirits. Read from First John chapter four:
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (Verses 1-3)
Love is a deeply spiritual part of us. It is far too easy for us to confuse agape with phileo and eros. We must test our love to see if it is godly agape love. We must ask ourselves, “Would this love I am called to lead me to do things the Christ of God would approve of? Is the focus of the love God? If we can answer these questions yes, then we have found a way to illustrate the greatest love of all – agape love. Agape love is godly love.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
No comments:
Post a Comment