Add to your faith: love

Greetings and thanks for reading today as we look at adding to our faith, love.

Now if this is your first time reading this blog, then welcome. This lesson is the seventh lesson from 2 Peter chapter 1. If you have not read the other lessons, it would be great if you took a few minutes and studied the other lessons first, because the idea in 2 Peter 1 is we grow in our faith by adding or supplementing our faith with several things. Love is the last thing on the list. Check out the other lessons here. (all underlined words link to references)

Ok, Let's look at our passage again since context is one of the most important parts of studying a passage of scripture. (2 Peter 1:2-11)

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirm Your Calling and Election 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,e and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,g be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now, in verse 7, we see that after adding each thing to our faith, we now can add love to brotherly affection.

The word for love that we see in this verse is ἀγάπην. As you can see by clicking on that link, Agapen and its connected words like agape, are used 116 times in Scripture.

The meaning of the word agape is a different one from Philleo love that we looked at in the last entry about brotherly affection. This love is defined as follows:

agápē – properly, love which centers in moral preference. So too in secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) focuses on preference; likewise the verb form (25 /agapáō) in antiquity meant "to prefer" (TDNT, 7). In the NT, 26 (agápē) typically refers to divine love (= what God prefers).

What does that mean to you when you think that the meaning of what we call love is 'preference?' To think about preference, it is something you prefer or want over anything else. Then God says "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. (Jeremiah 31:3 b) God prefers us with an never ending desire which is such a beautiful idea. So if agape is this divine love, or what God prefers, then for us to love, we must also prefer what God prefers; but how do we test and know if we are actually living and responding with what God prefers/loves in our daily lives?

I Corinthians 13 of course is the go to passage on understanding love.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,b but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In verse 5 I see the key to understanding love, and that all the other descriptions of love can work, if this one point is observed....Love is not self-seeking. If I am selfish and seeking my own interest then will I be patient? Won't I be easily angered and keep every record of wrong? Can I protect, trust and hope if I am only focused on my own wants and need? A person who is to be great, must be the servant of all, just like Jesus himself was for us, as he tells us in Matthew 20:26

We are called to be people who love each other, it is the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself; to which Jesus added to even love our enemies with that same love. Love is about preferring the other person as much as I prefer myself. Selflessly wanting what is best for others in Jesus name (by and through his power.)

If I am living out this divine love in my life...then I will obey Jesus. He said If I love him, I will keep His commandments. If I love people I cannot help but share God's love with them, no matter the cost to myself, because it is not about me, but about having God's divine love flowing through my life,and therefore will fulfill Jesus commandment to go into all the world preaching the gospel. Sharing God's love, is doing for someone what He wants to do for that person, so if they have need, we give. If they are hungry, we feed them, if they are lost, we share the gospel, if they are lonely we comfort them; weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice etc. When we live this way Jesus said we are doing it unto Him...loving Him by loving others.

The opposite of love, is lust. Lust is wanting another person for what they can do for you rather than preferring them with a divine love that wants whatever is good and pure for that person; lust is wanting to take anything you can for your own pleasure or gain from that person.

Lust is not just an issue in romantic relationships or limited to sexual sin. Lust is why businessmen cheat others, why friends gossip about each other, why neighbors steal from each other or church brethren back-stab each other. If I am only thinking of myself, pursuing my own lusts and desires then I will use anyone around me for personal gain. If I am living with God's divine perspective of seeing others in loving ways, then I will treat them with respect, honor and kindness, which will result with unity in the church and in my relationships. That is why Love is the greatest commandment, because I cannot break the other commandments while loving others. That is also why all sin starts with Lust, lust when it conceives brings forth sin.

Lust brings forth sin and sin brings forth death. Love brings forth life that is eternally abundant.

Jesus said in John 13:35, A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

So do a self-check today. Are you living motivated by love, or by lust, or I could say, are you living in the Spirit or in the Flesh? If we will obey Scripture, and have the mind of Christ, then we will be living a Spirit-filled life that is marked by love. So think about the following questions and sincerely ask God to reveal to you if you are living a life of love or lust in your relationships.

In your romantic relationships:

1. Do you think you love your partner because you only feel sexual desire/physical attraction for them (lust), or because you are committed to doing whatever is good and blessed for them within a healthy relationship (love?)

2. Do you think of your partner as someone who should meet your needs (lust), or as someone with whom you should live sacrificially and respectfully in a way that matches 1 Corinthians 13 (love?)

Summary:

is your romantic relationship about them meeting your needs (selfish lust), or your desire to meet their needs (self-less love?)

Example: If you only say you love your partner to get something from them, or to express your desire, that is lust. Instead, communicating love to them should be because you want them to feel and know they are cherished, respected, desired and honored. Telling or communicating love to someone is not about you, nor is it something to be expressed just in those moments you feel like expressing it; but instead expressing love is because you want your partner to have their needs met. If both people are committed to meeting the needs of the other, and both work to communicate love to the other in whatever love language the other best responds to, then both will always have their needs met while feeling loved and respected. If each person is only focused on their own needs, desires and selfish ambition, then neither one will ever be satisfied due to their love not being in a God-honoring relationship. This is why Jesus tells husbands to love their wives sacrificially as Christ does for the church, and woman to love their husbands through respect and honor as the church does to Christ. (Ephesians 5:25)

In your church relationships:

1. Do you go to church because you want your needs met (lust) or because you want to serve the body (love)?

2. Do you get angry if someone else is honored at church (lust) or do you rejoice with their honor (love?)

3. Do you take opportunity to complain if something is not just right at church (lust) or do you show patience and respect to the members (love?)

Summary: Is you attitude and actions in church resulting in unity and peace in the church, or are you so focused on your own needs and wants that you are hurting the church by lustfully making your demands or complaints while being a servant of none?

Example: if you serve in the church because you want people to think of you as a good person, or to try to earn respect, then that is motivated by lust. Every person who is a member of the church body has a God-ordained role to play in the church. It is your duty and honor to serve God with your gifts. If every person does their part in the church while actively showing love and care to each other, then the unity of the body which God so often asks of us will be achieved, and the body will be encouraged and built up in love. (Study Ephesians 4)

In your friendships:

1. Do you pick your friends by choosing people who make you look better socially (lust) or because you want to build a relationship that is built on mutual interest and trust (love)?

2. Do you think of your friends as people who should always listen to your problems while you complain or whine while never caring about their lives (lust,) or do you walk together in life mutually sharing each other's burdens (love?)

Summary: Do you have certain friends because you can use them in some way? Friendship is a beautiful gift God gives us to share life, the good and bad, in a way that makes both people more like Christ. Spending time together to encourage and build each other up should be the goal since that is love. Lust will demand all your friends meet your needs, listen to only your drama, let you manipulate or use them while giving nothing of yourself. Check your friendships and question if you are living out loving or lustful relationships with your friends.

So in conclusion:

These type of questions can be asked about everything you do, from the way you treat people in the local market to how you love your children....again, ask God to reveal to you if any of the relationships in your life are driven by lust and let God change you into a person who lives out Agape love- having God's preference for all the people in our lives.

In this lesson series we have worked through each part of how to mature in the faith by adding to our faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control etc, so this brings us to a place to truly be able to selflessly love others in a mature, faithful walk with Christ and each other.

God bless you as you add to your faith!