February is a month where many people are focused on love because of Valentine's Day! It's a fun time to show someone you care, to send your love across the miles to family and friends with a card or note, or to surprise someone with a special treat or gift to show them that you love them. Stores are filled with Valentine themed gifts, so it's easy to find something to give to someone that you appreciate or love.
There are different kinds of love in the English language, but the word "love" is used for many different meanings and it can be confusing. Older languages actually had multiple words for different forms of love. The Greek language had four commonly used words for various types of love that make each use of the word clear. In Greek, "agape" means unconditional, sacrificial love, while "eros" stands for sensual, passionate romantic kind of love. "Philia" means a loyalty or authentic love between friends and "storge" is the kind of affection that parents have for their children.
Whether we have friendships, a romantic love, or family love, we can all take some time to think about how to be more loving toward the people in our lives, like the "agape" love of God. The "Love Chapter" of 1 Corinthians 13 describes this unconditional love as patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not proud, dishonoring, or self-seeking, not easily angered, and not a keeper of records of wrongs. This chapter also says that love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and never fails. Wow! Can we show that kind of love to the people around us every day? It's quite a tall order. I want to love like that, but I often fall short. As flawed humans, we all fall short of this kind of love, so I am thankful that God sent us Jesus to be our model.
Jesus shows us that kind of agape love! We can go to Him when we mess up and He is patient, kind, not easily angered, and will not keep a record of the wrong that we have done! Jesus came to earth to show us sacrificial, unconditional love! His love is new every morning and He always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. His love never fails us and Jesus inspires us to love others better, like Him. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” We can open our hearts to the love of God and look to how Jesus lived out love in His life on earth to guide us toward loving others. God sent us a gift of His love for us in Jesus and we do not have to wait until Valentine's Day to celebrate it, but we can celebrate that love every day of the year!
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