What does it mean to love with agape love? The actual definition of agape means unconditional love and while we understand the term theologically, how does that manifest itself practically? Paul gives us a glimpse in his opening to the Philippian Church:
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“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.†(Philippians 1:3-11)
Does your love for others reflect itself in thankfulness and prayerfulness? Before you shake your head “uh-huh†you might want to take a moment to make a list of what Paul has said in our passage above. There are some very practical manifestations of Paul’s love for the Philippian Church that I promise you’ve never truly noticed.
Before we can determine if we are loving like Paul, we need to figure out what it means to love like Paul.
So here is your assignment: go through the passage above and list the descriptions Paul uses to describe his love for this little church.
Once you do, see if you can put a check mark for “yes†next to any of those on your list.
Tomorrow I’ll share my list with you…
In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4
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Copyright © 2011 David Jeffers
