Agape

1 John 2:7-17 (NRSV)

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

It's really quite simple.  The song makes it pretty clear: "they will know we are Christians by our love."  Loving isn't something we do to become right with God.  Loving is something we do just like breathing.  Because it is part of who we are in God.

Can't you tell it or feel it when you are "walking in darkness" because you are "hating" someone and not living in the love you were designed for?  I can.  There's a reason being angry feels so rotten.  It isn't the state we are meant for.

I wish the English language had as many words for love as the Greek.  Agape, the full, selfless love that Christ calls us to, isn't the same as the "eros" love we celebrate today on Valentine's Day.  It's more also that the "philo" love of friendship or the "storge" or loving affection that parent's feel for a child.

It's the love that is complete.  It's the love of neighbor.  Of the other.  Of those in need.  Of the lonely.  Of the alien.  Of our enemy.

Oh, yeah.  And it's hard.  Hard because even though we are designed for it, we've got a lot of things that get in the way of it.  Including the ways in which anger, mistrust, and fear slip in and mess things up.

But the good news is that God abides in us and loves us first. Forgives us first.  Frees us first to love as completely as God can.

It's who we are meant to be.  Free in perfect love.

Loving God, help us strip away the things that keep us from the perfect love you call us to so that we can walk in confidence of that love, extending it to all. Amen.