GOD'S AGAPE LOVE
SUPERCEDES
PHILIA, STORGE
& EROS LOVE!
By Pastor Max Solbrekken,
D.D.
It has been said that "Love
makes the world go around." And that is true! If there wasn't any
love, there would be no families, no homes, no communities, no schools, no
churches, no sports events, no drama plays, no art festivals and no human life!
When God
created Adam from the dust of the earth, He placed him in a lush garden which
He had created for the Man He had made in His own image and likeness. God is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Man is spirit, soul (mind) and body.
Adam was
a fully developed and perfect human being in his spirit, soul and body. The
Almighty Ever Living One Whom we call God had created him in total perfection
and gave him the privilege of overseeing His creation and tending to the Garden
of Eden. Adam gave names to all the animals in the garden and communed freely
with his Maker as a son would do with his father.
God
realized that Adam would need a helpmate and someone who would meet his
physical as well as social needs. He needed a woman, someone whom he could love
and who would love him. He needed a wife who could bear children to make their
lives complete.
The
Almighty God performed the first surgery on Planet Earth when he caused
a deep sleep to come upon Adam as he lay on the bountiful ground, over which
the Lord had made him husbandman. God deftly removed one of Adam's ribs and
closed the flesh without leaving a scar. And out of Adam's rib God made a
beautiful woman and gave her to the Man!
God
performed the first marriage on Planet Earth when He gave Eve to Adam, "to
have and to hold from that day forward." God blessed them with the
command to reproduce and replenish the earth! That was beginning of families and
homes, schools and churches, communities and nations! It is really true that
Love makes the world go around.
Adam
loved Eve and they started a family. And that is why we are all here on Planet
Earth today. All glory, honour and praise to our Heavenly Father Who planned it
so perfectly for all Mankind.
Unfortunately, the Evil One called Lucifer and Satan the Liar, deceived
Eve and plunged the human race into serious, deadly and catastrophic
problems. Again our Heavenly Father
reached out His merciful arm to save us by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, down to this Plant to liberate the human Race.
The
shedding of His perfect and precious blood was the ransom price in meeting the
demands of Divine Justice, to redeem us from the Fall and to bring us into His
Heavenly Kingdom.
When
Jesus Christ arose from the dead triumphantly, He had conquered death, hell and
the grave for all who believe in Him and receive His pardon and blessing. His
victory is also our victory since He made it possible for us all to become His
sons and daughters and to have the right to call Him Father!
God's agape
is the unconditional, pure and perfect love of God that
brought Jesus Christ to the 'Old Rugged Cross' to purchase our eternal
salvation and free us from servitude to the world, flesh and the Devil. It is a
love so strong that it reaches out to rebels, liars, reprobates and murderers!
God's Agape loves the
unlovable, forgives the unforgivable, pardons the unpardonable and forgets horrible
sins without retribution. God's LOVE gives us pardon for the
past, power for the present, a promise for the future and paradise for
eternity!
Agape is more than Philia
or friendship love, more than Storge or love for family and more
than Eros or romantic, sexual love! By a divine miracle of God's
grace, sinful human beings who are naturally selfish, mean and often
intemperate, are able by the power of Christ's shed blood, the Word of God and
the gift of the Holy Spirit to receive this Agape love!
"Give us this LOVE dear Lord", is my prayer for us all. Happy
Valentine's Day to one and all in Jesus' name! Amen.
