“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV).
A war once broke out and a king lost his throne because someone thought he had found love. The story goes, “In the course of time, “Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. (2 Samuel 13: 1-2). Ammon pretending to be ill convinced his father King David to send Tamar to take care of him. Once alone together he raped her. But almost soon after, he “hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her” (vv 15). Not long a war broke out led by Tamar’s brother, Absalom, who sought to avenge his sister’s abuse, culminating in the overthrow of David (2 Sam 15).
Ancient Greeks knew of six different types of love. There was Philia which meant friendship between equals. Storge meant the type of affection as seen between parents and children. Philautia meant self-love. Xenia was guest-friendship like being hospitable. Then there was Éros which means “love, mostly of the sexual passion”. Finally, Agápe which means “the unconditional love of God for man and of man for a good God.”
In the above story, Amnon was certainly taken up with Eros, and once his sexual passion was fulfilled there was no love anymore for Tamar. On the contrary we later find that even though Absalom would rebel and overthrew his father, David, he still loved him. King David directed his General Joab to “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake” (2 Sam 18:5). After learning he had been killed in battle, “the king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son” (vv 33).
David’s love for his son was Agape love, which is unconcerned with the self and concerned with the greatest good for another. Agape love isn’t born just out of emotions, feelings, familiarity, or attraction, but from the will and as a choice. It is a choice, a deliberate striving for another’s highest good, and is demonstrated through action. God set the standard for Agape love in sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners. This is the type of love which we should all emulate in our personal relations.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, creator of heaven and earth, as your love for me unconditional, I pray, I may share and live it in my personal relations, this I pray in Jesus’s name.
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
