Above All
LOVE
Search for love…
In the 60’s we protested for free love
and millions have been born out of that kind of love
never knowing the love of their father or mother.
Above all love…
Higher love…
Jesus protested for love
and millions have been born into a loving relationship
with God the Father and their fellow man.
If you are a Baby Boomer or remember Wood Stock,
you are aware of the sexual revolution in the 60’s and
70’s.
The 1960s heralded a new culture
of "free
love”
with millions of young people
embracing the hippie
ethos
as a natural part of ordinary
life.
Hippies believed that sex was a
natural biological phenomenon
which should not be denied or repressed.
The term free love has
been used since at least
the 19th
century[1]
to describe
a social
movement that rejects marriage,
which is seen as a form of social
bondage, especially for women.
Much of the free-love tradition
is an offshoot of anarchism,
and reflects a civil libertarian philosophy that seeks freedom
from state
regulation and church interference in personal relationships.
The word love has become hard to define in our day.
Love is any of a number of emotions and
experiences related to a sense of strong affection[1]
and attachment. The word love
can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging
from generic pleasure
("I loved that meal") to intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my
boyfriend"). This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the
complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to
consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.
Much of today’s definition of love has
to do with our personal
desires.
“I” love ice cream;
“I” love the
color red;
“I” love for what it does for me.
When the Bible speaks of love,
it uses two words in the Greek.
The one Greek word is Phileo.
This type of love speaks of a
friend;
to have affections for.
This is a growing type of love;
this type of love shows appreciation.
When good will is expressed,
this type of love wants to return good will
and as the reciprocation of
kindness grows so does the love.
The other Greek word is Agape,
means a feast of charity,
benevolence and affection.
It is used in Romans 5:8;
we are given a demonstration.
It is a benevolence love, it is a love that is given without a reason,
the recipient has done nothing to
deserve this love.
It is this word Agape
that is used in 1 Peter 4:8,
“Above
All, love each other deeply.”
Sin is hurtful, it is offensive and it separates from
others.
But Agape love has the ability to go
above all offensives
and cover the offender with kindness
in hopes that goodness will change the heart.
Agape love is a big risk taker, but consider this…
Romans 2:4 NIV
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches
of his kindness,
tolerance and patience, not realizing
that
God's
kindness leads you toward repentance?
Scripture
Reading
1 Peter 4:8 NIV
8 Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers
over a multitude of sins.
Psalms 103:8-13 NIV
8 The LORD is
compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in love.
9 He will not always
accuse,
nor will he harbor
his anger forever;
10 he does not treat
us as our sins deserve
or repay us according
to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the
heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love
for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east
is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has
compassion on his children,
so the LORD has
compassion on those who fear him;
Romans 5:8 NIV
8 But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still
sinners,
Christ died for us.
