In our studies we find out that gifts and sacrifices without agape amounts to nothing. The fruit of the Spirit is love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. This “love from above” enables us to exercise faith. This love unmasks hypocrisy. However, we must also realize that agape rebukes too.
In these difficult times, how vital it is that we have on the “breastplate of faith and love.” How important that we “let brotherly love continue”, the kind of brotherly love that serves, forbears, edifies, and labors in the Kingdom of God. Abounding love! What a witness to a hating, selfish society!
There are times in your walk when it may seem that your labors for Jesus are in vain because they go unappreciated by people; but Jesus knows. To walk in love as Christ did gives us that peace within that all things will be okay, even though today they are not okay.
The greatest demonstration of this agape love is seen in Calvary’s cross. God’s love for you is always mentioned in connection with the cross. “We love Him because He first loved us.” To reflect on this gift of eternal life through Jesus is indeed a mental focus on “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, …whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely”. Our Father loves us, Jesus declared, just as He loves Jesus! How can that be? I’ll never comprehend the plan of redemption, but my heart leaps for joy when I think of those words, “It is finished!”
Beloved, let us love one another in a brotherly way. Love is not the absence of trouble or friction. It is not a goose-bumpy or warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s the presence of Jesus Christ in my heart, the hope of glory. It’s the presence of Christ in us, perfecting and molding each of us into His image, which is love.
