1 CORINTHIANS 13:6-7

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

TO PONDER

As a kid I remember my mum trying to get into a fake argument with me about whom loved whom more, she would quickly respond to my reply of ‘I love you, too.’ with a ‘I love you more!’, to which I would roll my eyes ‘more’ as I got older…

What my mum was hoping for was one of those engineered, cute arguments where the parties involved in this competition would each increasingly insist that their love for the other was indeed the greater. Unfortunately, having 3 male children to only 1 female child her attempts at concocting said fake argument usually hit a dead end after her use of the word ‘more’.

In today’s verses Paul is inviting us into a holy competition of love.

The Greek word used here for love is ‘agapē’. Agapē is one of four Greek words for love, denoting an active/sacrificial kind of love and due to what appears to be its primarily Biblical and ecclesiastical usage amongst Paul’s contemporaries, it has come to be identified as the love of God. Agapē is a ‘love you more’ type of love, a driven love, not a passive roll your eyes type of love but rather a love that requires action, a love that is outworked daily, a love that is sacrificial.

Agapē love walks hand in hand with God’s ‘aggressive forgiveness’ or grace talked about in Romans 5:20 (MSG), it’s a love of more.

PRAYER:  Loving God, I thank you for your agape love you have shown to me, that sacrificial love demonstrated through Jesus and your grace that empowers me. I ask you to use me as a carrier of your agapē to everyone around me.  Amen.

Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.