Day 1 of 3 • This day’s reading 1 Corinthians 13 Romans 13:10 Devotional How Deep Is Your Love? The foundation of love is in Christ, and the term used to explain the unconditional love of God is “agape.” In 1 Corinthians 13, we are taught what love really means, what it looks like, and what it’s about. Romans 13:10 says: “If you love someone, you will never do them wrong, to love then is to obey the whole law.” Here we are reminded that love does not hurt. We are commanded to love one another earnestly, without doing malicious things to each other. When we do love right, we are obeying the law of God. Love in its truest form is about servanthood. It is unconditional, and sees only the best in people. Now, this can be challenging to us simply because of our human nature. But when we dwell in God and allow Him to move within us, we are able to love unconditionally through Him who dwells within us. Love is God, and in its purest form, it goes around looking for the best in people; it does not discriminate, loathe or envy. When we are driven by Agape, we are so full of God’s holiness that we do not have the capacity to focus inwardly. Agape is about doing more—not out of a sense of duty but because we are led by the spirit. We are able to extend ourselves for others and be of service to them without feeling burdened. We are able to do this because we are operating from a place of sufficiency and not scarcity. Love is not selfish. It puts others first with the confidence that God will provide sufficiently for us. But for His providence to manifest in our lives, we need to first love others, our neighbors, family, friends, strangers, orphans, etc. as God has loved us. He has loved us with all our faults and wrongdoings. But when we come to Him for help, He does not ask us 21 questions on why we did what we’ve done. Even though we were disobedient, He doesn’t respond to us with brashness. Instead, He welcomes us and embraces us without any backlash. May we learn from our friend and Father how to love genuinely without tallying up people’s iniquities versus our acts of love and kindness. I know as members of a family, parents and spouses to our partners, you find that when our loved ones have offended us in a very big way, we keep tallying up the scores. We do this telling ourselves that on strike five (or whatever threshold you have), consequences must be felt by the offender. We are all guilty of this, and if we don’t acknowledge it, we may be treading on a downward slope to distraction in those relationships which are dear to us. As we learn to be more like Jesus, and love others fully, may we see others how God sees them, through His eyes. May God give us wisdom to act in agape, especially in situations where our human nature or instincts tend to kick in first. May we extend grace—the same grace God extends to us even at our worst—to all we come into contact with. May we be guided by the spirit to do what is right and pleasing in God’s eyes. May we love unconditionally, driven by Agape. Today, reflect on how you’ve been doing this love thing. Take time to figure out which arena you’ve been operating from? And if it isn’t according to Agape, may you seek guidance from God on how to go about doing things right, to Him, to others, and to yourself.
