Love Revolution

Mahatma K. Gandhi: Where there is love there is life.

O

n his latest album It Is Time for a Love Revolution, Lenny Kravitz sings: “There ain’t nothing you can give me, I’m already there. I got love. I got love love. I got love love love.” It was released this year to mixed reviews.

Love. Many recording artists have written and sung about it; William Shakespeare and Danielle Steele have written about it; filmmakers have created beautiful love stories over the years; and many men, women and children around the world have professed their love for someone or something, somewhere.

I love my wife, Nancy. I love my daughter, Hannah. I love family and friends. I love God and the church family I’m a part of. I love the NFL. I love NHL, NBA, and MLB playoffs. I love movies. I love playing sports. I love reading. I love Jesus Christ. I love music. I love chocolate milk.

Do I love all of the above in the same way? The answer is no, or else I would be spending the night on the couch, alone, watching playoff highlights on Sportscentre and drinking chocolate milk. I have different levels and commitments of “love,” similar to the three Greek words used for love: agape, phileo and eros.

Let’s get the awkward word for love out of the way first. Eros is the Greek word from which we get erotic in English. This refers to an erotic or sexual love. I could be wrong, but I do not think eros was used in the writing of the New Testament in the original Greek. Scriptural Greek focused on how we treat people, each other, and God - not necessarily a physical sensation.

Phileo denotes a brotherly love, or simply “to like.” Philadelphia is referred to as “the city of brotherly love,” which is ironic, seeing that even Santa Claus has been booed by its residents. I phileo, or like, chocolate milk, the NFL and music.

The Super Bowl of love is agape. Agape can be translated as charity or a living kind of love for someone. It means caring for someone as much as you care for yourself. It is a godly love and has nothing to do with emotions: erotic, sexual or affectionate. The majority of references to Jesus and love in the New Testament are of the agape variety.

Jesus spoke about and acted out of love a lot. He healed lepers, sick women, and blind men, and the gospels are full of statements and conversations Jesus had about love. The most striking one comes in John chapter 13. Jesus is speaking to his disciples at their last supper together, but the message is clear for his followers today as well: “I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35, NLT).

The world will know we are Christ’s followers by our love. By our love. Not by our doctrinal/mission/vision or purpose statements. Not by the clothes we wear (or do not wear). Not by the songs we sing. The world will know we are Christ’s followers by our love.

This is frightening. In a world where I do not love enough, Christians hold signs that read “God hates fags,” and leaders of the world who profess to be Christian send men and women to kill other men and women, people must be asking: “Where is the love?”

The love, agape, should be found in the hearts, words, actions and lives of Christians. Is it, though? What does the world think about our hearts, words, actions and lives? Do they see and feel love?

A beautiful description of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13. This passage is read at weddings around the world every day. It was read at my wedding. I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: “Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always ‘me first,’ doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.”

We should be able to replace “love” as the subject of this passage with “Christians.” “Christians never give up. Christians care more for others than for themselves…” That would be agape. That would be the Super Bowl of love. The world would know we are Christ’s followers by this kind of love.

Where is the love?

Writer: Captain Mark Braye enjoys film and music, being active, good conversation and a good laugh. Mark and his wife Nancy are the corps officers in Essex, Ontario, Canada. Hannah, their first child, was born last year.

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