Agape Love Can Be Painful

Agape Love Can Be Painful
Just1King.com
By Oscar Smith

Author of He Came Incognito (Parthenon Marketing)

Agape Love commands the highest value of the Kingdom (I Corinthians 13:13).

It is the central motivation of all the commandments (Mark 12:30-31). It is the character of God Himself (I John 4:8). It is the motivation behind the life mission of  Jesus Christ (John 3:16). and this real world walk of love does indeed involves pain.

The fact is love involves a relationship, which in turn involves another human being. All of us human beings cause trouble. We sin. Sin hurts other people. If we love people, we have to deal with the pain that sin causes.

I have wonderful, loving, faithful relationships with people in all spheres of my life - marriage, family, work, neighbors and friends. Yet they all involve pain.

Faithfulness and patience means bearing the pain of relationships over a long period of time. The beauty of love is well worth the pain involved, but it does cost the price. Pain is the price of love.

Romans 15:1 - We who are strong should bear the weaknesses of the weak.

I Corinthians 12:26 - If one member is hurting, then all the members suffer.

I Corinthians 13:7 - Love covers all things… suffers all things.

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens.

Ephesians 4:2 - Suffer one another in love.

The pain of loving relationships comes in several dimensions. First we bear the weight when those we are in relationship with are weak. They cannot do all they should, so we need to "make up the difference." Here there is no intended harm meant. It is more of a weight than a pain.

The second dimension is that we feel vicariously the pains of others. Jesus Christ would weep in His daily prayer times (Hebrews 5:7) as He felt the suffering of others. Paul (Saul) said that he felt the suffering of those in the congregations under his authority. This pain is a spiritual pain; not your own pain. It is the loving identification of compassion and intercession.

The third dimension of pain is when someone you love hurts you. Here the pain is more direct. The depth of love is intimacy. Intimacy demands openness. Openness makes for vulnerability. That means you can be hurt or wounded. When we are hurt, we have the grace of Jesus Christ to help us forgive, overlook, communicate and receive healing. Yet the process still hurts.

Jesus Christ suffered the pain of the crucifixion in order to maintain a relationship with us. Our sin and His love caused the pain. Unfortunately, we are still causing Him pain. He forgave us on the cross. He continues to forgive us today.

Colossians 3:13-14 - Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against one another, even as Messiah forgave you, so you also must do. But above all things, put on love.

We are called to follow in Jesus Christ's footsteps. We act as He did on the cross. As He forgave us, we forgive others. He paid the price to continue in relationship with us. He suffered pain in order to love us. We suffer pain in order to love others. We walk by faith in the kind of sacrificial love that Jesus Christ has for us.

Oscar's new, long-awaited book, "He Came Incognito" has just arrived. This book is guaranteed to inspire and challenge your understanding of the eternal nature of Jesus Christ and the original message He came to bring. Further, it takes a progressive look at the revelations of the Bible and the applications for living real today. He came incognito but he is not incognito any longer.

The main idea for this book was developed not only in years of study in the Bible, but also in real life experiences of sharing the gospel. (Not to mention a lot of prayer and intercession.)

Please feel free to forward this message to others; acknowledging our website

www.Just1King.com would be kindly appreciated.

Chaplain Oscar Smith

Copyright (c) 2011

All rights reserved.

Don't miss it. Order for yourself and send to friends. To order www.Just1King.com (click here) Listen the feedback is awesome and I have prepared my new manuscript to be released as a business in the marketplace book. God is Not a Vending Machine!

Look for this in early January 2012. Thank you for the Love!