“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

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These days, everyone is trying to find LOVE. Yet, so many people don’t really know what they’re looking for because few people really understand what LOVE is! They think love means acceptance, or love means tolerance, or love means whatever I decide that it should mean.

The truth of the matter is, there are four kinds of love. There is EROS love, which is usually associated with sexual love. Eros is not mentioned in the Bible because Eros love is based on the desire to fulfill only one’s self.

Then there is STORGE love, which is the love that a FAMILY has for each other. This is mentioned in the Bible, though not very often.

There is PHILOS love, which is the love between people who care for each other and hold others in greater regard than themselves. This is the type of love that most Christians practice toward each other and is used extensively in the Bible, especially in the New Testament.

Finally, there is AGAPE love. AGAPE is the highest level of love. It is the love that Jesus has for God the Father and the love that God has for us. It is utterly selfless, completely unconditional, yet also uncompromising. It is totally sacrificial.

Agape is the love that Jesus gave to us when He took our sins upon Himself, and gave Himself to death so that we might live forever in GLORY with Him and God the Father.

It is the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated so often during His time on earth. It is the LOVE OF A SERVANT; a love that teaches us about God, a love that heals, a love that feeds thousands, a love that forgives a prostitute and a tax collector, a love that washes our feet, and a love that took upon Himself the penalty for our wrongs and our shame, though He, Himself, was innocent.

The next time we talk to each other about LOVE, I pray that we do so with a profound understanding of what LOVE really is! Love is how we hold each other in the manner of Him who first loved us.

David McCall

Executive Pastor