John 13:34 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
Jesus loves us with agape love. It is the highest form of love that can be given. It is unconditional and exists no matter what the circumstances are. As I witness my friend and her husband live each day, agape love is evident in this new normal they find themselves in. My friend’s health is being attacked by a relentless disease. It is leaving her unable to care for herself. Yet together they are walking through this, showing what agape love looks like. As I watch him ever so patiently prepare her food, cutting it and placing it in front of her, it is not done with frustration. It is done with unselfish service. She in turn doesn’t demand service yet receives it with gratitude. I know there have to be times for both of them of disappointment and frustration for the cards they have been dealt. Yet they are living out those vows they said looking into each other’s eyes on the day they wed. Those words of “for better or worse, in sickness or in health,” are ever present in their day. Song of Songs describes intimacy between two lovers. It speaks of love as a flash of fire, the brightest kind of flame. It also says that many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. There are many struggles we go through in life. They can put pressure on the love between a husband and wife. It oftentimes can destroy a love that looked so promising. When we follow the instructions we have been given, to love like we have been loved, no matter what the circumstances are, agape love will win. The flame will not be put out.
Lord, I thank You for examples of what Your love looks like. What lessons they can teach us.
– Michele
