Freely Speaking Audio Devotion

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 John 4:16 NLT).

Everyone has probably heard the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Thee? In her poem, she points out all the various ways and depths of her love, even until death. Have you ever loved someone that deeply?

If you have known God, you have known love, a love that pursues us, envelopes us, and sustains us. Simply put, God is love. One of my favorite books of the New Testament is 1 John. John writes many letters centered around love, but the verse above caused me to pause.

The word “love” in this passage translates to Agape in Greek. Agape is an extraordinary love that gives beyond, a love that gives sacrificially. We are being asked to “live in love,” God’s love, the kind of love that dwells inside of each of us who love God. I began to think about being a caregiver for my husband. That takes agape love, literally putting his well-being above my own. I cannot even express the depth of love I have for him; just seeing him smile makes my day, but maybe I need to expand that circle of love and look for opportunities outside of caring for my sweetheart only. Now that he is in Memory Care, I have found many opportunities to show agape love to a whole new family of people. People who go days with no visitors and nurses who work so hard with very few expressions of gratitude from those they care for.

So, in this new year, let’s look for opportunities to share the love God has placed inside each of us, the agape love He demonstrated by giving His son Jesus to cover our sins, the agape love found in our comforter, the Holy Spirit.

In what ways can you share agape love with someone else today?