When it comes to love, there are two classes of people in the world: the takers and the givers.
Takers are people who are primarily concerned with getting things for themselves. So, they “love” money or power or prestige or fame. Even when they love people, it is a love corrupted by the desire to gain something for self. When they “love” someone, they look for admiration, respect, and loyalty in return.
But that’s not the kind of love the Bible is talking about when it bids us to love one another.
1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV) And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
The love spoken of in this verse is a translation of the Greek word agape, which in the New Testament signifies the kind of unconditional love that God Himself has. Scripture assures us that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” to rescue human beings from both eternal damnation and living messed up lives right here and now (John 3:16). And He showed us that love even though He knew the vast majority of humanity would never show Him love in return.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
That’s the kind of love we are to have for one another – a love that gives, even gives sacrificially, to benefit someone else, without thought or expectation of receiving any benefit in return. Ironically, it is that unconditional love that gives with no expectation of reciprocity that actually stimulates the most sincere response from the one to whom it is given.
If you were to take an unbiased look at how you’ve been living your daily life, which category would you place yourself in. Are you a giver or a taker?
Learn more about real love at What Is Love In The Bible?
Ron Franklin
