Many times when we wish to consider love we turn to 1 Corinthians 13 which is an excellent picture of agape love, and though all of the apostles knew of Gods love I think perhaps the one who knew and experienced this the most was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. the first epistle of John, chapter 4 is rich with accounting and administration of the love of God through John. Because God is love and we were made for God, we were made for His love. We were not merely made to be the recipient of agape but vessels of love through which His love could be expressed exponentially through the many sons! Due to the fall of man however, all were born into a fallen and corrupted state and undeserving of this high honor. We were separated from the Life of God. In the fall our spirits died and because God is Spirit, we were unable to fellowship with Him and to enjoy His presence, much less were we unable and unsuited to become vessels of His love! I say all this because I wish to convey the self evident fact that perhaps the primary reason for which God created man, was to fill Him with His divine nature as vessels of His glory which is primarily expressed in agape. Because of this, there is a deep longing in the hearts of all people to love and to be loved which, apart from God can never be truly realized and satisfied. Though there are many things in the world we can love and receive of love, none are that for which our spirits were truly made. This is why so many people become depressed in life as they seek to fill that void with things which do not and cannot satisfy. The flesh does not seek the love of God for it sets itself against god and seeks instead many other things. This creates an inner turmoil within all people because they live by their natural lusts and desires seeking to be filled with any and everything which cannot satisfy but for a fleeting moment. I submit the following verse which is mostly misinterpreted because the natural man can only seek of that which it knows in the world but Here Paul is speaking only of the riches of Christ and NOT of what the world offers. 1 Timothy 6:17Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. The riches of Christ are actually His divine nature and character which He gives without reproach, and the foundation of which is agape! I praise the Lord who blessed me with another child in my older years so that I can learn of His agape through her. I find that the most essential thing we can do for a child is to express the agape of the Father as a wiling vessel. All else, to include education, life skills and etc are nothing without this. When a child has the agape love of the Father expressed through the parents, they are afforded the very thing their spirits need and may become tethered to it for a firm foundation upon which they may securely build their own spiritual house. Without having received the agape love of the Father through the parents, a child becomes lost and filled with insecurities, inner chaos and every evil thing because the soul is looking for its foundation or its anchor for true life. The enemy comes in quickly to fill the young souls of all with many other things from the world which become obstacles and further barriers between themselves and their God. One other thing I would like to note is that in our endeavor to love and to be loved of the Father, we must first seek the one who IS and is able to reward those who seek Him by faith in humility. As we turn from our own self seeking, self interests, He is afforded the place within our hearts to fill us with Himself and then we find the blessing that His Person is LOVE and the issue of our lives begins to express that agape more and more. This is the only way we can satisfy the deepest longings from within. Watchman Nee once said, you can never force someone to drink water unless they are thirsty but the one who is filled within the living water of life, is the one who can create a thirst within the hearts of others. When, and as one is filled with the Lord, He has both the content and the issue of of Christ which is based in agape. The more true agape one has, the more it shall create a thirst in others because it is the essential life craving of the souls of all men! This is why we are told to love our enemies! Enemies are the result of the enmity between flesh and spirit. The flesh is hostile to the truth and reality of that which the spirit of the man truly needs and seeks. When one is a fleshly person, it means his spirit has become deeply covered by the lusts and desires of the outward flesh and the flesh is only for the world and all which is opposed to God. If a person encounters such a one with the true agape of God, that person is pressed into contact with the Person of God who is love, and for whom his soul was created and for that which his inner most man craves and desires but is suppressed by the flesh. Such a person is forced to either capitulate in repentance and the accepting of the love of the truth or else hostility in enmity and opposition.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 14:25:08 +0000
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