What does it mean to have a love that gives everything radically and faithfully?
Giving a lot. Giving continuously. Giving without hesitancy.
Many people call it Agape love, which is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.
Though it is a beautiful picture of what love is, trying to apply that standard to our own life can be disappointing.
I myself attempted to live that out, and I ended up swinging to the extremes of the spectrum of agape love.
When I was young and naive, I desired to live radically in my love, giving everything I could to the person I encountered and attempted to be unconditional. No-strings-attached living.
When I became older, I desired to be committed and consistent in my love for those that I was with.
How I focused on living out love changed season to season, but my results never could balance perfectly.
The truth is, we all fall on some aspect of that spectrum. Radical or logical mindset. Present or absent.
But no matter how hard we try, it is impossible to sustain any perfect form of this love forever. All-giving faithful love is difficult to live out.
It is a reminder of the fallenness of this world we live in.
But as disappointing as it is that our love is only the shadow of perfect love, it doesn’t mean there isn’t perfect love.
There is one who lived out radically faithful love. In fact, He was love in the flesh.
Jesus was love.
When we look at how Jesus loved, one of the striking things we notice first is that Jesus loved radically.
He gave all that He had to others. His time, His energy, His ability to heal, His teaching and insight.
He loved those who hated, those who mocked and scorned, and those who wanted to kill Him through patience, words of truth, and careful instruction.
And ultimately he loved radically through dying on the cross in order to bring salvation, freedom from sin, and a way out of spiritual death and separation from God.
The other more subtle yet amazing thing was Jesus’s faithful love.
He was faithful to what He meant to say in love.
To every person He met, He showed love. He listened to people who were ostracized by society back then. Tax collectors. Lepers. The homeless and helpless. And He healed them. He would show love in many different ways.
And he wouldn’t budge one moment in his love. His love was not just given radically to one person, but every person He met,
It is humbling that we can’t be like Jesus.
But it can also be empowering knowing that the same love Jesus poured out to those back then, He has for us right now.
Whether we know Him or not, He desires for us to know His love, and when we know it, we can be empowered to live out that same love He has for us.
The ultimate way to learn radical faithful love is to look to the one who loves like no one other.
