Agape - the Valor of Love
Rex Yancey
1 Corinthians 13:7
Oswald Chambers writes of agape, ''The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally. It is only there when it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.'' On that basis, Chambers insists, ''Love is not premeditated, it is spontaneous.''
This is a tremendous point about agape. If you hear sermons on love and hear that you must consciously decide to be patient, kind, etc., your hearing the wrong message. The message is that agape is no less the work of the Holy Spirit than the exercise of spiritual gifts. The only choice we make is the surrender of our lives to the Holy Spirit. Agape isn't something we choose to do, it is the fruit of the Spirit. As he does his work in and through us, love becomes a spontaneous action of the Holy Spirit.
This passage doesn't tell us what to do; it tells us what he will do if we will allow him to do it.
Let's look at verse seven and see four things that is always true of agape.
1. AGAPE IS UNCONDITIONAL.
''It bears all things.'' ''Thy foes might hate, despise, revile, Thy friends unfaithful prove; unwearied in forgiveness still, thy heart could only love.''
This quality of love is exhibited by Hosea in the Old Testament. Gomer deserted her family to become a cult prostitute. She became so used that she was physically broken and no longer desirable. But when she was placed on the auction block, it was Hosea, her husband, who bought her and took her home. God's love bears all things.
Peter Foster took a direct hit in his Spitfire plane during World War 2. He managed to bail out but not without receiving deep burns on his face. He knew that other pilots had faced the same ordeal and that some of their wives had divorced them because of their facial disfigurement.
Peter was engaged to be married. When she came to the hospital to see him she assured him that nothing had changed except the t ...
Rex Yancey
1 Corinthians 13:7
Oswald Chambers writes of agape, ''The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally. It is only there when it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.'' On that basis, Chambers insists, ''Love is not premeditated, it is spontaneous.''
This is a tremendous point about agape. If you hear sermons on love and hear that you must consciously decide to be patient, kind, etc., your hearing the wrong message. The message is that agape is no less the work of the Holy Spirit than the exercise of spiritual gifts. The only choice we make is the surrender of our lives to the Holy Spirit. Agape isn't something we choose to do, it is the fruit of the Spirit. As he does his work in and through us, love becomes a spontaneous action of the Holy Spirit.
This passage doesn't tell us what to do; it tells us what he will do if we will allow him to do it.
Let's look at verse seven and see four things that is always true of agape.
1. AGAPE IS UNCONDITIONAL.
''It bears all things.'' ''Thy foes might hate, despise, revile, Thy friends unfaithful prove; unwearied in forgiveness still, thy heart could only love.''
This quality of love is exhibited by Hosea in the Old Testament. Gomer deserted her family to become a cult prostitute. She became so used that she was physically broken and no longer desirable. But when she was placed on the auction block, it was Hosea, her husband, who bought her and took her home. God's love bears all things.
Peter Foster took a direct hit in his Spitfire plane during World War 2. He managed to bail out but not without receiving deep burns on his face. He knew that other pilots had faced the same ordeal and that some of their wives had divorced them because of their facial disfigurement.
Peter was engaged to be married. When she came to the hospital to see him she assured him that nothing had changed except the t ...
There are 6781 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
