By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer
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 that 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 first seek to receive and then to share 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 in, when your heart is overflowing. Like the best of all possible news, you will simply have to give it and share it with others.
Paul’s description of God’s love is the most magnificent of all time:
“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (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 love God has loved you with from your beginning and will love you with forever. Imagine such an unconditional, pure love of you. When the love that Paul celebrates finally fills you, it will overflow your heart. 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.
(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of Pray This Way to Connect with God. You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
