Agape Triumphs when Eros Fades

Because it is Valentine's Day, here are a couple random thoughts on the difference between God's love and the love we celebrate today- eros love- romantic love. God's love is of no comparison with eros love. God's love is called agape love and remains far superior to eros love.

It is the kind of love that is unconditional, the kind that would hold a Saviour to the confines of a bloody tree for a bunch of people who could have cared less, that were busy spitting on Him, cursing Him. Could we not use that kind of love today in our relationships with our families, the very ones we care about most? In fact, isn't it really what this whole world is crying for?

But back to eros for now. Eros says, "You're attractive. You don't have wrinkles or grey hair. You are not heavy or slobby or ..."{whatever you want to fill in there.} I once read on a Christian board a woman complaining about her husband because he had become unkempt with bad teeth. All the other women were advising her to dump him! The person receiving the love usually has to uphold something in order to be loved, to stay in the good graces of the lover. They need to wear fancy clothes or drive the right car or have the right degree or hold the right job or.... you get the idea. They have to merit the love in some way, shape or form. They have to earn it somehow.

What happens when you promise each other to love each other for the rest of your life but then your spouse gets grey hair or slobby or heavy or....? Does that give you free reign to go out and get a new one then? Eros is conditional in this way. It is not a "till death do us part" kind of love. It is only a "till my feelings do change" kind of love. That is why you see the break up of so many marriages today. Eros didn't hold them together. The marriage only lasted as long as the passion did. Once the passion left, so did the commitment.

But God and His love are so different from ours. Thank Him for that! Jesus could have given up on us, but He did not. Agape, not nails,is what held Him to the cross that day. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, did you know that God does not see you in your sins? The last time He saw them was when He judged them in His Son upon the cross. So He sees you as being perfectly righteous. (II Corinthians 5:17) Agape is what is needed if we want our marriages not to be added to the casualty list. But we cannot produce it. It must be Divinely produced within us.

If we have not been walking in agape, we need to confess it before God. He will not be surprised, nor will He be angry with us. He took out His anger on His Son.(Hosea 14: 4)
We ask Him to teach us His way of agape, He will not despise us if we ask Him in genuine humility. We need to come, and keep on coming, to Him. He never tires of us coming, or asking. (Matt. 11: 28-30, James 1: 5)

"Show me your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day." Psalm 25: 4-5

But we must realize we bring nothing before Him, our hands are empty. It is not, we do a little and He'll do a little. No, He must do it all. God shares His glory with no one. (Isaiah 45: 22-23)

"And this is the commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." I John 4: 21