Love is a funny thing. I’m sure when you hear the word, the first thing that pops into your head is romantic love. You know, the kind every 14-year-old girl wishes she had as she watches all of her friends get chocolate and stuffed animals from their secret admirers on Valentine’s Day. But actually, there are many different types of love. For starters, there is “eros” or passionate love, which represents the desire you have for another person. So it’s basically what we typically think of when we think about love. Other forms are “storge” which relates to the love you feel for family and “philia” for what you feel for friends. But my favorite type of love is “agape” love.

In my personal opinion, agape love is the purest, most wonderful form of love. According to the Greeks, it is the highest and most radical type, and in today’s world, it is especially rare. Agape love is a selfless, unconditional love you have for someone, expecting nothing in return. Agape love is basically something bigger than ourselves and shows endless mercy and grace. Sound familiar? That’s the kind of love our super cool God has for us.

I don’t think we, as a society, fully understand how much love actually affects us. Love feeds our relationships and motivates basically everything we do. Think about it. Why do you go to that certain pizza place every week? Because it has the perfect toppings that you absolutely love. Why do you stay up into the wee hours of the night talking to your boyfriend even though you have an 8 am class? Because you are in “love.” Why do you endure that 7-hour car ride with your sister that keeps saying, “I’m not touching you”* just to see family for a couple of days? Because you love your family. You do it because of the joy these actions bring you.

But what about things that don’t bring you joy? That’s where agape love comes in.

Sometimes there are things that we just frankly do not want to do. Maybe you’ve had a long week, you’re going through a hard time, or maybe you just right out don’t want to do whatever it is you have the opportunity to do. But children of God are called to a humble life of service, and as hard as it is, our mindset has to be changed to realize that serving is not a burden. In Matthew 20: 26-28 Jesus says, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It is essential to realize that this agape love we have the opportunity to share is vital to our Christian walk. We never know what is happening in someone else’s life, and we all carry our own burdens. The least we can do is show love, the best way we know how, even if it is unwanted, unnoticed, or unappreciated. Thankfully, we have a fantastic teacher. A quote from Tim Keller states, “Even if our troubles are great, we should still serve. Jesus washed his disciple's feet on the way to the cross.”

So basically, agape love should inspire us to realize that what you do could not only affect someone else’s life, but enhance yours as well. As one thinks, so one does. So a challenge for you this week is to see what love does when you add it into your day. Invite it into your heart and let it consume your whole being. It’s harder than you think, but the rewards are great. A little exercise someone once taught me when I started to figure out the whole “dating” thing was to put the guy’s name into 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in every place where it said “love” to see if they matched up. Something interesting to do would to put your own name in that place as well. So I’ll end with this:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. Love never fails.”

This article was inspired by a Wesley service at Valdosta State University. Thank you, CJ Harp, for letting God work through you and for speaking life into the college students at VSU. Thank you also for letting me incorporate some notes I took from that service into this article!!

*I was that sister. Sorry not sorry, Kims.