Discovering Unconditional Love
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13)
The heart of “agape” love is a willingness to lay down one’s life for another. It is sacrificial in nature, always looking to prefer, serve, promote, and empower others. Unconditional love puts the need of others before ourselves. This often sounds heroic, but the foundation of such actions speaks to the very purity of what love looks like. The key is where love is focused. When Jesus sacrificed His life for you, there was no sense of self-preservation or self-protection. His love was focused upon your best interest. Agape love always looks to the best interest of others. It is not focused on our needs, wants, or desires, but instead regards others more highly than ourselves.
The focus of agape love is “the other”. It is servant love. We serve one another not because it is a duty or a command. We serve because we are loving others unconditionally, and serving becomes a joy and a privilege. We seek to free and empower others to live to their fullest potential. This love does not seek to take advantage of others or to find self-gain or a platform. Rather, because of its sacrificial nature, such love puts others first.
Agape love esteems others; it gives value, worth, and significance to those around us. It always focuses on the value of a person, and therefore, it is not conditional upon the function or performance of the individual. Agape love will always seek to honor the other, despite failings and mistakes. After all, love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Only when we discover the joy of being loved unconditionally, can we truly understand the concept of grace. Grace is “unmerited or undeserved favor” given by one whose heart is full of love. Such love will see the treasure within others and is interested more in the heart, rather than external results.
Such love is the beginning of humility: wanting to see others lifted up, with no need to be seen or acknowledged. This love gives longevity to patience and releases compassion rather than judgment. It keeps no record of wrongs and responds with kindness and goodness rather than anger and hate. The fruit of this love reflects the image and likeness of God. And God's love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
How is your agape love? A good measure is whether you know that you yourself are loved. Or are you looking for love to fill an emptiness? If you are needy for love, the love that you give often will be self-focused, using others to give you value, acceptance and worth. You will find you are sucking the life from those around you. However, if you understand how loved you are by God, then you are free to release value, worth, and significance to those around you, releasing life and hope into their lives. Jesus asks you to love others as He has loved you: regarding others more highly than yourself and seeking to prefer, serve, promote, and release others. Agape love does not look to be exalted, yet God will exalt those who exalt Him by loving and serving others the way Christ did.
