The Importance of Reading your Bible-Shows us how to love

June 2, 2023

The Importance of Reading your Bible-Shows us how to love

What is “Agape” love?

The Greek word “Agape” in the bible means affection, good will, and love. We can see many verses of Scripture that depict this kind of amazing love. One in particular is pertaining to the love of our Heavenly Father, Romans 5:8 details, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God gave His only Son as a perfect sacrifice to pay for the sin of the entirety of the World.

John 3:16 is the perfect verse of Scripture that goes into even more detail on our Father’s perfect love. It states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He loved us so much that He did not want us to die eternally separated from Him. Yet, there are so many people that still refuse to allow Him into their hearts.

We can also find the word “Agape” used to describe the love that Jesus Christ has for us. John 15:13 describes, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Here we can see that the Lord is making it clear to us that there is no greater love than the love of someone that will lay down His life for you. He died for our “just in case.” Just in case we decide to love Him back, just in case we want the gift of Salvation, and just in case we see Him for Who He truly is, absolute love!

The Lord provides us with many verses scattered throughout the Bible pertaining to how we are to love each other and most importantly how we should love Him. The problem is so many of us fail to take the time to truly dive into our Bibles study it, digest it, and apply it to our daily lives.

Unfortunately because of our lack of understanding regarding how we are supposed to love, the enemy takes full advantage of our ignorance. For example, when we get offended by someone the last thing that we are thinking about is love. Our thought process in those moments is that we want revenge and we want it now! The problem is there are repercussions to our actions as children of God. We are held to standards and there are rules and principles outlined in the Lord’s Word that we are to obey. One of His greatest commandments is to love!

I am going to go over some Scriptures that you can meditate on regarding how the Word of God develops our love!

Mark 12:30-31

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Here we can see in these passages of Scripture out of the Bible that the Lord is giving us two specific commandments. One is to love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind and the second one has to do with loving your neighbor. One of the interesting things about these verses is that the word love being used in both instances is the Greek word agapaō which means to be fond of and to love dearly.

The Lord is highlighting His two greatest commandments and they both have to do with one of the strongest emotions that we can display, love. The main way that you are going to be able to fulfill these Biblical mandates is by reading the Word of God and allowing it to saturate your heart. There are so many verses of Scripture scattered throughout the Bible regarding how we are to love.

You are going to have those moments when people are working your last nerve and you will want to speak your mind. In those situations the Holy Spirit will bring Scriptures to your remembrance that is contrary to the way you want to react. The thing is you have to have enough of God’s Word stored in your memory bank for the Holy Spirit to pull from.

Your Bible is you Sword and is one of your greatest weapons against the tactics of the enemy. You best believe he will put people in your path and influence them to get you annoyed and irritated so that you can act out. His goal is to get you to do something that is contrary to God’s Word so that you can break His principles and guidelines. That way, he can begin to develop strongholds in your life.

Matthew 5:44-45

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

There is no doubt about it; one of the most difficult things to do is to love our enemies. Especially when they have done something to you that you deem unforgivable. These passages out of the book of Matthew make it completely clear on where the Lord stands pertaining to how we are supposed to treat our enemies.

God is plainly letting us know that we are supposed to love our adversaries and pray for those that mistreat you. As Christians we are supposed to radiate the love of Jesus Christ in every circumstance. We really don’t know what people are going through that is causing them to have such destructive behavior. Our job as Christians is to let Christ shine through us and that is not possible if you are displaying negativity.

One of the greatest misconceptions is that we have to take matters into our own hands when someone has wronged us. We have to trust that God will take care of our adversaries for us. Let’s see what the Lord’s Word has to say on the matter. Romans 12:19 states, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”

When we retaliate instead of giving the issue to the Lord we run the risk of developing adverse emotions that the enemy can use against us. Adversity, bitterness, unforgiveness, and anger are breeding grounds for the devil and his demonic kingdom. He will take those feelings and multiply them so that he can develop bondages in your life that are not easily broken.

When we combat negative thoughts and actions with the Word of God we are less likely to open up doors to the enemy to come into our lives and create chaos. When we choose to love instead of hate we strip the adversary from some of his greatest weapons that he uses against Christians consistently, bitterness and unforgiveness.

I have some articles pertaining to the dangers of unforgiveness and how to love your enemies: Loving Your Enemies, Forgiveness: recognize the need to forgive, and Forgiveness: appreciate your enemies.

1 John 4:8

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

One of the most important reasons why we need to read God’s Word is so that we can understand the concept of truly loving others even when we feel like they don’t deserve it. God is love; everything about Him radiates, emits, and encompasses pure love. If we are going to be His representatives we need to know how to love completely.

Here we can see in this verse of Scripture that John through the leading of the Holy Spirit is telling us that if we don’t love (agapaō), we don’t know God. How does someone get to know the Lord? The best way that anyone can understand God and His character is by reading His Word. He gives us so many examples of Who He is dispersed throughout the Bible.

We don’t have any excuses as believers of Christ not to know Who our Heavenly Father is, Who Jesus Christ is, and Who the Person of the Holy Spirit is. I know that it can be difficult to completely understand the Bible especially if you are a brand new believer, but that is why we have the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us into all truth, John 16:13. He will reveal the Lord’s Word to us.

The Word of God is living and powerful and the more that you open it up to truly understand it the more the Lord will highlight Scripture specifically for you. I can tell you first hand that it has transformative power. There were so many things that I needed to change as far as my character as a Christian and the Word of God has helped me make those permanent changes.

I am definitely still a work in progress as we all are but the goal is to continue to get better as time progresses. We are created in the image of God so people that meet you should see the Lord in you. The fact of the matter is that you might be the only person that can introduce them to Jesus Christ. That is something that none of us should take lightly!

Conclusion

Learning how to love others is a commandment that the Lord is very adamant about. It is one of His greatest requirements. The best way to understand and have the ability to completely love others is to read the Word of God. The Lord has so many different passages regarding this topic. He wants us to treat people like we want to be treated. So instead of wanting to retaliate or negatively react, choose to love instead.

Can you imagine the impact that you can have on someone’s life that is filled with hatred if you chose to love on them instead of reciprocate their hate? They will see that something is different about you and that is a perfect Segway for you to introduce them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The One Who is absolute love.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

The Importance of Reading Your Bible-It Renews Your Mind

The Importance of Reading your Bible-fights the enemy

The Importance of Reading your Bible-has the ability to heal

The Importance of Reading your Bible-Builds Your Faith

The Importance of Reading your Bible-Reveals Jesus Christ

Your Real Enemy

Loving Your Enemies

How to share your Testimony

The Importance of Renewing Your Mind!

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 1

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 2