God’s Love: Infinite, Unconditional, Eternal

 

As many prepare to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we think about romantic love, and the joy of committing our lives to our beloved and anticipating the same in return. But true love is not reserved for one day a year, but should be in our hearts continually, regardless of the circumstances. Many couples began their marriage by promising to love one another for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until parted by death.

Most of us believe that we love our spouse, children, and family deeply, as they do us. We hope that should the need arise, we would sacrifice anything for their good – even our life if circumstances demanded it. But we pray to God that we would never have to find out whether our love or theirs would meet that standard.

In contrast, God’s love is infinite, which means He can’t love us any more than He already does, nor could He love us any less. What a relief to know that we don’t need to work at earning His love, for we are saved by His grace through our faith (Ephesians 3:8-9) in the death, burial and resurrection of His son (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

And similarly, we don’t need to walk on eggshells for fear of losing His love when we sin, for if we confess our sins, He forgives us (1 John 1:9). Infinity plus anything, or infinity minus anything, is still infinity.

We can’t begin to wrap our heads around the concept of how much God loves us. God Himself is Love (1 John 4:8). He loved us so much that He gave Jesus, His only begotten Son, to suffer and die in our place (John 3:16) so that those who trust Him would live forever.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, loved us so much that He willingly died for us on the cross to pay the sin debt we could not begin to repay. He loved His earthly mother Mary so much that in the midst of His agony, He arranged for His beloved disciple John to take care of her for the rest of her life (John 19:26-27). He loved those who crucified Him so much that He asked His Father to forgive them (Luke 23:34).

On the cross, Jesus was covered in blood, oozing wounds, sweat and tears, devoid of physical beauty, His human body brutally disfigured beyond recognition (Isaiah 53:2). Not the lovely, frilly sentimentality of a Valentine, but the gut-wrenching, all-consuming fire of self-sacrificing love that knows no bounds.

His death satisfied the demands of God the Father, Who is perfectly holy and just, while His resurrection allowed all who trust Him to live forever with Him in Heaven. How can we begin to comprehend that God Himself, Creator of all, Love incarnate, loved us, regardless of how much or even whether we loved Him? (1 John 4:9)

God has loved each of us since before the beginning of time. He has loved us even while we were His enemies and children of the devil (Romans 5:8). But once we are saved, we become God’s children and friends, and God then loves us as members of His own family (Matthew 12: 49-50).

Because God is Love, His love enters our heart along with the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (1 John 4: 16). His love in our heart replaces not only hate, but also fear that keeps us from sharing His love and His Word with others. We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:17-19).

As humans, we experience different kinds of love. We may say “I love chocolate!” but that means a craving, preference or desire – not actual love. There are three Greek words for love. “Eros” means physical or sexual attraction. “Phileo” means brotherly love, or love that we have for our family, friends and like-minded people. Generally this type of love means that we have expectations of the ones we love – we treat them well, and we hope they treat us well in return.

But the Biblical word for God’s love is “agape,” which means self-sacrificing love.

The apostle Peter boasted that he would follow Christ even to the death, but when Jesus was arrested and crucified, Peter denied Him three times. But Jesus, because of His infinite love, not only forgave him but gave Peter three opportunities to express his love to Christ once He rose again. Three times He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” using the word “agape,” or self-sacrificing love. But each time Peter replied, he used the word “phileo,” or brotherly love (John 21:15-17).

Jesus told Peter that if he indeed loved Him, he should feed His sheep. If we love Christ, we can show it and please Him by sharing His love and His Word with others.

God loves us unconditionally, not in exchange for anything we could give us, because He needs nothing from us (Psalm 50:10). He loves us even when we sin or rebel against Him. His mercy spares us from the punishment our sins deserve, and His grace gives us blessings we don’t deserve (Romans 5:20-21)

Not only does God love us infinitely and unconditionally – He loves us eternally. He has loved us since before the beginning of time, when He conceived a special and perfect plan for each of us who would become His children (Ephesians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:11).

He loves us throughout our lifetime, saving us through His mercy while we were still sinners, and allowing us to sit in heavenly places with Him once we are saved. God will love us forever, “that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2: 4-7).  

The love of Christ, shown to us in His mercy and grace, lasts forever. Each of the 26 verses of Psalm 136 ends with “for his mercy endureth for ever.” It’s as if God really wants to emphasize that He will love us throughout eternity!

Once we are born again, God gives us eternal life in Heaven and promises to give us glorified bodies at the Rapture, so that we will live with Him and experience His perfect love, joy and peace forever. Once we are truly saved by making a heart decision to follow Christ, we can never lose our salvation nor God’s love (Romans 8:39).

In 1 Corinthians 13, known as the “love chapter,” the apostle Paul describes the attributes of perfect, divine love. It is patient, kind, long-suffering. It is not envious, rude, proud, self-serving, or easily provoked. It “rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

Paul goes on to say that of faith, hope, love, the greatest of these is love. Why? Because in Heaven, we will no longer need faith, for our faith will have become sight. We will no longer need hope, for our hope of the Rapture, glorified bodies, and eternal life with Jesus Christ and our loved ones in Him will have been realized.

But love? Praise God, we will experience His infinite, unconditional love throughout eternity!  

Copyright 2026

Laurie Collett

Be Fruit-full!

 

                                                                                                    

When God told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful,” (Genesis 1:28), He was of course referring to having children. Yet I believe He also wanted the first husband and wife to have productive lives according to His will, tending to the beautiful garden and bountiful fruit trees, and having dominion over all the animals. 

Adam and Eve's disobedience and rebellion against God had severe consequences (Genesis 3). They were expelled from the garden; they had to work by the sweat of their brow just to eat, and they caused all mankind to be subject to the curse of sin, which is physical and spiritual death.

Thankfully, God had a plan for man's redemption since before the beginning of time. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29) and God Himself, came to earth in human form to die in our place, paying our sin debt in full. He then rose again on the third day, proving that He is God, and offering the gift of eternal life to all who trust Him as their Lord and Savior (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 

Now that we are in this age of grace, we can also interpret “Be fruitful” to mean not only to be prolific and productive, but also to produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so that people know we belong to Christ by our words, our works, our attitude, and our behavior (Luke 6:43-45).

When a man and woman marry, they have an opportunity for the light of Christ to shine, not only through each one individually, but through their new, combined family and community. Ideally, their marriage should portray the perfect union of Christ and His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:21-33). The wife should submit to her husband's Godly authority as the church submits to the perfect will of Christ. The husband should love his wife self-sacrificingly, even as Christ loved the church and died to save her.

For that to happen, each of the partners individually, and combined in the marriage, must have the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9). This will keep us from the works of the flesh, which can destroy individual lives and a marriage through evil deeds and thoughts including adultery, hatred, anger, drunkenness, etc. It is a daily battle between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

We can’t work to produce the fruit of the Spirit. It is not naturally found within us, but it flows from us when we are saved, turn away from our sin, and put our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only Way to Heaven. Then the Holy Spirit indwells us and produces this fruit, if we yield to Him and die to our sin nature (Galatians 5:14-16).

Love refers to “agape,” the self-sacrificing love best portrayed by Christ on the cross, shedding His blood to be the perfect sacrifice and complete payment for our sins (Matt. 26:27), and God the Father giving His only begotten Son so that sinners could be reconciled to Him (John 3:16). God is love, and if we know Him, we will love one another (I John 4:7-8)

Joy in the Lord can be constant even in times of trials and tribulation, no matter what the external circumstances. As born-again believers, we have reasons to be joyful (Philippians 4:4) – God loves us; He has forgiven our sins; He allows us the privilege of prayer 24/7, He has indwelled us with the Holy Spirit; He communicates with us through His Word; He has adopted us as His children and appointed us as His ambassadors, He will return for us, and we will live eternally with Him in Heaven (1 Peter 1:5-8).

Our peace, which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes from knowing that our sins are forgiven, that we are reconciled to God, that He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), and that we have eternal life in Him. (Romans 5:1-2)

The fruit of the Spirit we’ve spoken of so far are sweet and pleasant, but we can’t pick and choose which fruit of the Spirit we would like – they all come together when we are saved and the Holy Spirit indwells us. That’s why Paul refers to it as fruit of the Spirit, and not fruits of the Spirit. Some, like long-suffering, or patience, are not as pleasant, because they are the result of trials and tribulation (Romans 5: 3-5). 

But self-sacrificing love requires suffering, sometimes brought on by the one we love, or at least putting the other person’s needs ahead of our own. Self-sacrificing, agape love is patient, kind, seeking to meet the needs of the other person, always thinking the best of the other person, not expressing anger, being constant through all circumstances. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

The Greek word for gentleness in Galatians 5:22 is the same word which is translated kindness in 2 Corinthians 6:6. It means goodness, wanting to please others and to be pleased with what they do, mildness of temper, calmness of spirit, not easily flustered, polite, always putting the needs of others before your own (2 Corinthians 10:1, Psalm 18:35).

Goodness is another fruit of the Spirit expressing doing good for others, spiritually by educating them in the Word, and meeting their physical needs also (Romans 15:1-4; Exodus 34:6; Psalm 107:9).

Faith is the belief we must have in order to be saved and in order to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith is in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of God, the perfect, holy sacrifice to pay for all our sins. In Galatians 5:22, the word “faith” also refers to trustworthiness, keeping your word and promises, keeping the secrets or confidences of others. God is faithful to keep His Word and His promises, and He is faithful and unchanging in His love for us, and we should strive to do the same (Psalm 119:90; Isaiah 25:1).

Believers are meek because their power and destiny are based on the indwelling Holy Spirit, not on their own strength, status, or circumstances (Matthew 5:5). Paul tells the believers that to be good ambassadors for Christ, they should be humble and meek, patient toward one another, and putting up with each other’s faults (Ephesians 4:1-2)

As Christians we have access to all the wisdom and power of God within us through the Holy Spirit, but when others ask us about it, we must answer meekly, not showing off that power, but sharing the truth with humility and love (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus could have summoned legions of angels to rescue Him from the cross and to destroy His enemies, but instead He went meekly like a sheep led to the slaughter.

If a wife who is saved is married to an unsaved husband, He may become saved through her meekness. He may see Christ in her not through displays of power, but because she lives a sanctified life, is submissive to the will of God and of her husband, and puts her husband's needs ahead of her own (1 Peter 3:1-4). In marriage, as in life, submission to the one in authority does not diminish our power but confirms it, and is pleasing to God.

Temperance means power or control over the sin nature, including tendencies toward sexual immorality, drinking alcohol, using other intoxicating substances, angry outbursts, and overindulgence. Galatians 5:23 says “Against such there is no law,” meaning that we will never get in trouble by using too much self-control. Temperance is a stepping stone to patience, godliness, and self-sacrificing love (2 Peter 1: 5-8).

All the fruit of the Spirit represent qualities of Jesus Christ Himself. The nine words emphasize different aspects of these qualities, but they are all interrelated and based on self-sacrificing love. Similarly, all the names of God emphasize His different attributes, but they all describe the same God. When we are saved, all these qualities enter our heart through the indwelling Holy Spirit, but we don’t always show these qualities because our sin nature fights against them.

In marriage as in life, we will show the fruit of the Spirit if we die to self and yield to the Holy Spirit, loving God and loving one another, doing His will and putting the needs of the other person ahead of our own. In a Christ-centered marriage, the wife can submit to her husband because the husband loves her completely and with a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Ephesians 5: 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.

Copyright 2011 Laurie Collett

Edited, expanded, and reposted from the archives

Love and Death

 

Photo of Michelangelo's Pieta by Torbjorn Toby Jorgensen

For the first time in decades, Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday fell on the same date this year. One holiday celebrates love, while the other reflects on death. The Catholic ritual of wearing ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead symbolizes the human condition as sinners doomed to eternal death in hell, were it not for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross (Romans 6:23).

Ash Wednesday thus marks the beginning of Lent, a time of reflection on Christ’s finished work on the cross (John 19:30) and on sinners’ unworthiness (Romans 3:12), based on their own merit (Ephesians 2:8-9), to receive His freely given gift of eternal life. Lent ends on Easter Sunday, commemorating Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and the triumph of God, Who is Love (1 John 4:8), over death. Praise God that through the righteousness of Christ credited to the account of all believers (Romans 4:16-24), He no longer remembers our sin and frees us from its penalty of death (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17).

The perfect, sinless, Lamb of God (John 1:29) – God the Son – came to earth in human form (John 1:14) specifically to die. His death was excruciating, marked by the physical suffering of crucifixion, the emotional isolation from His friends and disciples who betrayed (Luke 22:3-4;34) and abandoned Him, and the humiliation of being rejected, mocked, and mistreated by His people whom he came to save (John 1:11; Luke 23:20-23).

Worst of all, He had to be momentarily separated from the God the Father (Matthew 27:46), with Whom He had been present in close fellowship and love since before the beginning of time (John 1:1-2), as holy God could not look on our sin, which Christ became to save us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Yet this horrific death was motivated by self-sacrificing love. There is no greater love than to die for others (John 15:13). Christ’s death was the very definition of love, for it was the perfect sacrifice to appease the anger of holy God and to reconcile sinful man to Him (1 John 4:10).

Christ died for us while we were not only sinners (Romans 5:8), but children of the devil (John 8:44) and His enemies, rebelling against Him in anger and hatred. His inspiration to endure this agony was the joy that came from knowing that all who trusted in His sacrifice and resurrection would live forever with Him in Heaven (Hebrews 12:2).

God the Father loved the world so much that He was willing to submit His precious Son to this torturous death (John 3:16). God’s love is unfathomable by our mere human minds. We might be willing to take a bullet for our spouse or child, and our brave troops and first responders daily risk their lives to protect our country and communities. We might sacrifice ourselves for a good person, but for an evil, hateful one? (John 8:44)

So how can we begin to comprehend how the Divine Godhead, in need of nothing (Psalm 50:10-12), Creator of all (Genesis 1:1), with infinite power (Jeremiah 27:5), riches and wisdom (Psalm 139:1-6), could love us infinitely? We who are vile, lowly sinners, made from dust and destined to return to ashes? (Genesis 2:7;3:19).

Appropriately enough, the ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from palm fronds burned after the previous year’s Palm Sunday service. It is a sad reminder to be careful lest we fall (1 Corinthians 10:12), for the very people who loudly praised Jesus, crying Hosanna and waving palm branches on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, were the same who cried out for His death on the cross a few days later.

Through His supreme sacrifice He changed all who would believe in Him into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). By trusting Christ we are transformed from His enemies to His friends (Proverbs 18:24), from children of the devil to God’s children, becoming joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17) in eternal life, peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), joy in His salvation (Psalm 35:9), wisdom through the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), and all the blessings of Heaven.

Beyond that, His death allowed His love to make us His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), given the unique privilege, honor and blessing of being able to share the Good News of His love, death, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-5) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven. At the moment we trust Him, we become part of His church, or beautiful bride that one day will unite with Him in sinless, holy perfection (Revelation 21:2).

Once we experience the transformation His love and death allow, love and death take on a new meaning for us. We love Him because He first loved us, and He is love itself (1 John 4:8,19). His love is infinite, while ours is still tainted by the curse of sin, stained with selfishness and pride. Yet as He daily molds us into His image (Romans 8:29), often through suffering (Philippians 3:10), our love can also begin to reflect His self-sacrificial agape love, which we can share with others to bring them closer to Him.

For the Christian, death loses its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55), for it no longer represents eternal punishment in hell, but a momentary transition from the burden of this aging and infirm body to the freedom and joy of being in the presence of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). When we lose loved ones in Him, we have the sure hope that we will one day be reunited. Yet while we are still on earth, we must die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31) to our sin nature, to the corruption of the world (Romans 12:1-2), to the temptations of the flesh (Romans 8:6-7), and to the traps set for us by Satan (Ephesians 6:11).

I chose the Pieta, the renowned sculpture by Michelangelo, to illustrate this post, as it so poignantly communicates the love of a mother for her dying Son, of a sinner for her Savior, of the Son to die for the sins of the world, of the Father to give His Son, and of the Spirit to raise the Son from the dead, that all who trust Him would have everlasting life.

As we reflect on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection this Easter season, may we let His love shine through us to bring others closer to Him!   

© 2024 Laurie Collett

Who Is Love?

 

Photo by MOSSOT 2015

As we saw last week, humans may sometimes be capable of agape, or self-sacrificing love, as in the case of a parent, spouse or soldier dying to protect a child, spouse, or country. But the sacrifice is usually made impulsively before the person has a chance to weigh the outcomes, and it protects a person or idea highly valued by the person making the sacrifice.

In contrast, true agape, like that shown by Jesus Christ, sacrifices with full knowledge of the cost and of the absence of reward, commits to the sacrifice well in advance, and is done to benefit those who hate rather than love the donor.

Imagine, for example, that everyone in the world, except for your son, is dying from a lethal virus infection. Everyone hates your son because they are jealous and resentful of his perfect health. Doctors study him and discover that he has a unique antibody in his blood against the deadly virus, and that everyone can be cured by receiving that antibody. You gladly agree that he should donate his blood to save the world, but then the doctors inform you that it will take every drop of his precious blood, and that he will have to sacrifice himself if others are to be saved.

Now you and your son realize the cost of saving those who hate your son and are his enemies. Yet motivated by pure, selfless love, you both agree to make that sacrifice. Shockingly, instead of loving your son for his lifesaving sacrifice, many still hate him, many ignore him, and many even refuse his precious gift, without which they will die.

Yet this is a weak analogy to what God the Father and Jesus Christ did for us, agreeing that God the Son would shed every drop of His precious blood to save His enemies, not just in this life, but throughout eternity. Only His perfect holiness is the antidote to sin, for which we would otherwise be forever condemned to hell.

Because of our sin nature (Romans 5:12), none of us can ever love perfectly. Only Jesus Christ, the holy, sinless, Lamb of God (John 1:29) Who took on human flesh (John 1:14) to reconcile sinful man to Holy God (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20) can do that. The truly amazing thing about the love of God is that He showed us His infinite love by sacrificing His only begotten Son (John 3:16), Who died an excruciating death to pay for our sins, even when we were His bitter enemies (Romans 5:6-10; James 4:4) and children of the devil (John 8:44), rebelling against Christ, despising Him, and rejecting Him.

God does not need us, for He owns everything (Psalm 50:9-14) and is completely self-existent (John 8:58). Yet the Creator of all made us in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27) and wants to have fellowship with us (1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 John 1:3), to be able to call us His friends, His children (Romans 8:16-21; 9:26), His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Once we are freed from condemnation by the law, which we cannot keep completely because of our sin nature, we are saved by God’s grace through our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). We can then follow Him through His law of liberty (James 1:25; 2:12), which is to love God and love one another (Luke 10:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 John 4:7-12; Romans 13:9-10). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

God shows His love for us through His mercy (Ephesians 2:4; Jude 1:21), by not giving us what we do deserve, and by His grace (2 Corinthians 13:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Timothy 1:14), by freely giving us what we don’t deserve. His mercy spares us from the eternal punishment in hell that our sins have earned (Mark 9:43-49; Romans 6:23), and His grace allows us into Heaven (Romans 5:21; Titus 3:7; 1 Peter 5:10), for Christ has covered us in His perfect righteousness (Romans 3:22), so that God no longer sees our sins (Psalm 103:12).

Once we are saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), the Holy Spirit enters us and teaches us about who we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). The Spirit also gives us the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22). These fruit are actually different aspects of love and reflect the character and nature of God, for God is love (1 John 4:8).

In 1 Corinthians 13, the so-called love chapter, the apostle Paul describes the qualities of this type of love, here translated as “charity.” It is longsuffering, meaning patient; kind, which corresponds to goodness of the fruit of the Spirit; content rather than covetous, reflecting peace; well-mannered and self-controlled, which parallels the gentleness, meekness and temperance of the fruit of the Spirit.

Self-sacrificing agape love puts the needs of others ahead of personal gain, finds joy in God’s truth and not in anything evil, suffers all hardships, and has faith, hope and perseverance. Love never fails!

Until we receive our glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:35-57), free of all sin, we will not be able to love perfectly as Christ does, but we must follow His example by dying daily to our sin nature (1 Corinthians 15:31). In the “love chapter,” Paul explains that we will not know true love, or charity, until we see Jesus Christ face to face in Heaven. Agape love will last throughout all eternity and outshines even faith and hope (Romans 8:24-25), because these will no longer be needed once our faith becomes sight!

Remembering that His love is infinite and eternal, may we try to love one another as He loves us! Rather than asking, “What is love?” we should ask “Who is Love?” and answer that He is our Lord Jesus Christ!

© 2019 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

What Is Love?

 

Photo by Patty Colmer 2007

 

As we in the United States prepare for Valentine’s Day, it is appropriate to consider what love truly is. We use the term very loosely, as in “I love chocolate!” Great songs, poems, and books have been written about love, but what do the writers mean by love? There are three Greek words describing love: eros, phileo, and agape.

Eros refers to erotic or sexual love and is seldom used in the Bible, but this type of love is often exploited in songs, movies, and TV of today. In isolation, eros is not really love at all, because it is a form of lust that demeans its object as merely an end to satisfy one’s own needs. It often borders on hate, as we see when lust led Amnon to rape his half-sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13). When he had what he wanted, he hated her even more intensely than he had once desired her (v. 15).

Yet when eros is accompanied by love within the marriage relationship as God designed it, it forges an unbreakable, exclusive bond between man and wife, causing them to become one flesh (Genesis 2:21-25; Mark 10:6-9). This type of romantic and physical marital love is beautifully depicted in the Song of Solomon. Many regard this poem as an allegory describing the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:22-32).

Phileo appears often in the Bible, referring to brotherly love. It is the root word of “Philadelphia,” meaning brotherly love. Many of our human relationships, such as those between brothers and sisters in Christ, schoolmates, or other friends or family, are based on phileo. Despite our sin nature, this type of affection comes fairly naturally to most of us because we find the resulting relationships to be rewarding. Often we form such relationships with like-minded people with whom we have much in common, and we enjoy their company because they think and act like we do.

Even unsaved people have natural affection for their family and friends. However, Scripture warns that in the End Times, that affection will grow cold, and men will love pleasure more than they love God or one another (2 Timothy 3:1-3). We see this today when mothers abort or abandon their children for convenience or fathers slaughter their family, because they have no love even for their own flesh and blood.

The expectation in relationships governed by phileo is that we will help one another, encouraging each other (2 Corinthians 1:4), praying for one another (James 5:16), bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), and exchanging gifts or uplifting messages. Friends may often provide substantial help when needed, such as errands, moving, home maintenance, food or medicine when one is sick, or even a job opportunity or financial assistance.

I know of someone in our former church, a mother in her forties, who is an amazing example of this type of brotherly love. Her close friend and sister in Christ married a diabetic, and several months later, he developed kidney failure that became so severe that he needed a kidney transplant. His wife was not a good match to be an organ donor, but her friend was, and she gave her kidney so that her brother in Christ would live and so that her sister in Christ would not lose her husband! Praise the Lord, all are still doing well!

But even when the giving becomes lopsided because one is going through tougher times than the other, the unspoken assumption is “You scratch my back – I’ll scratch yours,” or “I’ve always been there for her, so she’ll always be there for me.” If we are honest with ourselves, we may realize that some of these relationships are actually more like a contractual partnership than a true friendship, and we may begin to resent the “friend” who takes much more than she gives.

The truest form of love described in the Bible is agape, or self-sacrificing love that gives freely and completely while expecting nothing in return. Sacrificial, anonymous giving may be motivated by agape, provided it is not done to bolster one’s ego, pride, or self-righteousness.

The apostle Paul warned that even if we give away all our possessions to feed the poor, and even give our own body to be burned, it does us no good unless we do it out of sacrificial love, translated as charity (1 Corinthians 13:3). When we face Jesus Christ at the judgment seat for believers, even magnanimous deeds like these will burn up in the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:10-15) unless they were motivated by true love for God and for one another.

Jesus told us to love and pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44), even though they would destroy us if they had the chance, much less thank us. (Praying for our enemies to be exiled to Siberia doesn’t count!). Jesus told us that the greatest form of love, which He exemplifies, is to lay down your life for your friends (John 15:13).

Many people would take a bullet to spare the life of their child or wife, because they love that person more than they value their own life. Many soldiers end up sacrificing their life to protect their fellow troops or country. But in these examples, the sacrifice is usually impulsive rather than premeditated, and protects a person or idea of great worth to the person making the sacrifice.

In contrast, true agape, like that shown by Jesus Christ, sacrifices while fully aware of the cost (Matthew 16:21) and of the absence of reward. It commits to the sacrifice well in advance (Isaiah 50:6-7), and benefits those who hate rather than love the one who dies. He sacrificed Himself for His enemies (Romans 5:6-10), so that all who are saved by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) can have eternal life!

Next week, we’ll explore the concept that a better question than “What is love?” may be “Who is Love?” and that the answer is Jesus Christ!

© 2019 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

Love Never Ends

Photo by Pauuuvicious 2013

In the past two weeks, five Christian families we know have lost a loved one, and three years ago a dear friend of mine from high school lost her son. I cannot even begin to imagine how deep a loss that is, and psychologists say that is the worst life event one could possibly endure. She has so beautifully preserved his memory and his life-affirming spirit in so many ways – celebrating his birthday, placing a memorial bench along a path he enjoyed hiking, and writing many moving Facebook posts. 

In response to one of these posts I wrote “Love never ends,” as the Spirit moved me. But as I thought about it subsequently, I realized that there is a sound theological basis underpinning that statement. 

John, the beloved apostle of Christ, wrote that God is love (1 John 4:8). God is never-ending, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8,11; 21:6; 22:13), the self-existent, great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) Who spoke His creation into existence (John 1:1-3). So, if God is love, and God transcends all time, then love also must never end. 

John went on to say that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and that we love Him and one another as an expression of His love (1 John 4:7-21). So even human love, as empowered by His divine love, must also never end. Jesus Himself summarized all the commandments by telling us to love God and to love one another (Matthew 22:37-40) 

“Agape,” translated from the Greek as “charity” in the King James Version, is that self-sacrificing love epitomized by Christ, giving all while receiving nothing in return. He suffered on the cross, laid down His life for His friends (John 15:13), and was the perfect, sinless sacrifice to pay for all our sins (John 1:29) even while we were His enemies (Romans 5:6-10). 

This agape love is what God is, and what we hope to emulate in our earthly relationships. None of this is possible without yielding to His Holy Spirit, Who indwells each believer (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30) at the moment we are born again (John 3:3-8) by placing our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6). 

John also writes that God is light, referring to His perfect holiness and purity untainted by even one iota of darkness (John 1:4-5; 1 John 1:5). Through the science of physics we now know that light also never ends, for it is an energy wave composed of particles known as photons, and it cannot be created or destroyed. (However, Einstein discovered that under extraordinary circumstances, energy and matter are interconvertible). Because light never ends, we ultimately can see light from distant stars many, many light-years away. 

Because God is love, and God is light, then love must also be light, a never-ending, pure, holy, spiritual energy emanating from God Himself. Finally, John reveals that God is Spirit (John 4:24), which further confirms the spiritual nature not only of God but also of love. 

In the well-known “love” chapter of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, often read at weddings, the apostle Paul explains that love is the motivator that gives our words, deeds, and life itself its meaning. We can be the most eloquent of speakers; have impressive spiritual gifts of prophecy, tongues and faith; and do charitable deeds, even the ultimate self-sacrifice of giving our body to be burned. But unless these are motivated by love, they are without meaning or value. 

Faith is the cornerstone of our salvation, for we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in His Son (Ephesians 2:8-9), and without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Our glorious, living hope (1 Peter 1:3; Titus 2:13) is in Christ’s return for His children at the Rapture, when we shall be as He is and live eternally with Him and our loved ones in Him (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). That hope encourages us to press on even when our earthly circumstances and future seem bleak.

But Paul writes that love is even greater than faith and hope! (1 Corinthians 13:13). I believe that is because of the eternal nature of love, but not of faith and of hope. Now we experience Christ imperfectly through His Word and His Spirit within us. We have faith in His precious promises, and hope that He will soon return. But when we see Him face to face, we shall know Him perfectly and completely even as He knows us! (1 Corinthians 13:10-12).

Then we will no longer need faith or hope, for His promises will be wholly and eternally fulfilled. We don’t need to believe or hope that we will receive a reward once we actually receive it. We will live and reign forever with Him in glorified bodies that will never age, sin, or experience sickness, sorrow or pain (1 Corinthians 15:35-50). We will forever enjoy His radiant presence and that of our loved ones in Him, never having to say goodbye, even if temporary. The glories of Heaven and the bliss we shall experience there are beyond our imagination (1 Corinthians 2:9). 

Faith and hope will vanish, for they will no longer be needed, but love shall endure! Heaven will overflow with fountains of love for Him and for one another, for love never ends! Even while we walk this earth, we can know that Spirit-inspired love for Christ and for one another will never end. May we spend our days as channels of His perfect love!

© 2016 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives