- Agape is a selfless, unconditional love.
- Philia is a platonic love between close friends.
- Storgy is a love for someone or something you are dependent on.
- Eros is a passionate, romantic love.
I think the Greeks understood that love is more than most people think it is. I have discovered that for myself over the last while. As I drew closer to God and felt His call to love all I began to understand more of love but it is only recently that I think I have even began to grasp at its true entirety. Love is not just a feeling or an action, it is more like a supernatural power. Love has such immense capability. It is not so easily caged as we would think. I do not think love is a mere feeling, action, or choice. Love is so strong that it transcends such boundaries. Full love, a love I think only God can understand and cause, is a thing that goes far beyond feelings and choices, it is a heavenly thing.
Love changes everything, its presence or absence can completely turn something around. I have heard and seen situations where love has saved things and brought things back from the brink of annihilation, and where the absence of love has caused things to decay and rot. A story I read recently actually shows this rather well. Brad Pit wrote about a time when his wife, Angelia Jolie, was falling apart. He said that she was losing drastic amounts of weight, not leaving the house, and otherwise not living life. He thought that he was going to lose his wife and his marriage, in all honestly he probably already had. He made a choice though, a choice that he said changed everything. He decided to love her, in a way that no one else had ever done before. He chose to bring her flowers, complement her, support and uplift her, and otherwise shower her in love and adoration. He said the change was so strong and powerful. Within weeks she was doing better than she ever had. Love changed everything. I have seen similar effects when I look back on things. I have seen people who have every reason to collapse grow and flourish simply because they are loved, and I have seen those who seemingly have everything crumble and fall apart without love.
I have begun to see and understand this truth about love because I have experienced it over the past few months. In a time when most of my world was crumbling around me God's love never changed. I was loved through it all, as though I was special and precious, and it made me stronger in ways I couldn't even begin to understand and explain. His love saved me, and in earnest it has already saved us all. During this time I was also challenged to love, to love without condition or reward, and it is life changing. It changed the very fundamentals of who I am, being loved like that. Trying to love like that is so challenging, and impossible to be perfect in, but so good and growing. Love is the answer. There is a reason God named love as the great command.
In the name of love.
Jem.
Love changes everything, its presence or absence can completely turn something around. I have heard and seen situations where love has saved things and brought things back from the brink of annihilation, and where the absence of love has caused things to decay and rot. A story I read recently actually shows this rather well. Brad Pit wrote about a time when his wife, Angelia Jolie, was falling apart. He said that she was losing drastic amounts of weight, not leaving the house, and otherwise not living life. He thought that he was going to lose his wife and his marriage, in all honestly he probably already had. He made a choice though, a choice that he said changed everything. He decided to love her, in a way that no one else had ever done before. He chose to bring her flowers, complement her, support and uplift her, and otherwise shower her in love and adoration. He said the change was so strong and powerful. Within weeks she was doing better than she ever had. Love changed everything. I have seen similar effects when I look back on things. I have seen people who have every reason to collapse grow and flourish simply because they are loved, and I have seen those who seemingly have everything crumble and fall apart without love.
I have begun to see and understand this truth about love because I have experienced it over the past few months. In a time when most of my world was crumbling around me God's love never changed. I was loved through it all, as though I was special and precious, and it made me stronger in ways I couldn't even begin to understand and explain. His love saved me, and in earnest it has already saved us all. During this time I was also challenged to love, to love without condition or reward, and it is life changing. It changed the very fundamentals of who I am, being loved like that. Trying to love like that is so challenging, and impossible to be perfect in, but so good and growing. Love is the answer. There is a reason God named love as the great command.
In the name of love.
Jem.
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
Lao Tzu
Love conquers all.
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