In the middle of his setting forth the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Paul turns to the highest gift of all: love. But not just any form of love; rather, the love which comes down from heaven. The Greek term for this love is “agape.” It appears almost exclusively in the New Testament in the Greek speaking world of this time. It refers to God’s own love, which we are first to seek receiving, and then to share it with others.
Perhaps the best analogy of agape love is that of pouring water from a large pitcher into an empty glass. If you do not stop pouring, the water will eventually overflow the glass. That is the point at which love becomes agape love: when you have received more love than you can take it, when your heart is overflowing. Like the best of all possible news, you will simply have to give it to and share it with others.
Paul’s description of God’s love is the most magnificent of all time:
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).
Paul says, if you are going to receive any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, start here. Without receiving and living out of God’s love, nothing else you can do for Christ will be of any benefit in God’s sight. Why? Because you will have diverged from following the path of love, continuing instead to move in the wrong direction. Every gift of the Spirit must begin with, remain and end in, God’s own love, an ever self-giving and overflowing love toward others.
Pray for this gift above all. It is the very love with which God has loved you from your beginning, and will love you forever. Imagine such an utterly unconditional, pure love of you. When this love Paul celebrates finally fills you, it will overflow your heart. And when your heart overflows with this love straight from God, you will greatly desire to give it to and share it with others—without conditions or counting the cost. That is agape love.
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