Agape means “love” in modern day Greek, which can also be translated to literally mean, “I love you”.  In Ancient Greek, it often refers to a general affection and many ancient Greek texts use the term to denote feelings for a good meal, one’s children, and the feelings for a spouse. It can be described as the feeling of being content or holding one in high regard. Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, and thoughtful love…God’s love!

Perhaps the best place to go to see agape love showing itself is in I Corinthians 13, often referred to as the New Testament “love chapter”.  Let’s discover how well we do with this “Agape Love”.
The first characteristic of agape love in I Corinthians is, “love is patient”.  I have to be honest, this is not one of my strong points.  I have a difficult time expressing this aspect of agape love.  However; when I look at God, I realize how patient His love is.  I see all the time how He patiently waits for me to come to Him to ask for help or to express my love for Him. He has the patience that a true father represents.
The second characteristic that is presented here is, “love is kind.”  How do you do with this?  I like to think I am a kind person, but unfortunately far too often human nature takes over and kind words and thoughts are far from my heart, mouth and mind.

Love does not boast, it is not rude.  This phrase makes me think of my own boys.  Being twins, competition is always at the forefront of conversation.  For the most part, the boys are compliant and share a special bond.  Recently, however, I came home to find one of them near tears.  He said that his brother was bragging because he did better on a test.  Boasting and rudeness come naturally to us.  After speaking with the brother, I realized that he was not even aware of what he was doing.  As I think about myself, I wonder how many times I am rude or boastful and don’t even realize it.  As Christians, the only thing we can boast of is what Christ has done for us! (Prov. 13:10; 16:18; Psalm 31:15; Daniel 4:30; 5:23; Matt. 7:5; Acts 17:28; 1 Cor. 12:25-25; 2 Cor. 11:20; 12:5-9; Col.1:17; Eph. 3:18-19; 1 John 1:6-7).

God’s (Agape) love is not self-seeking.  Selfishness should not be confused with seeking ourselves.  God wants us to find our innermost strengths and the gifts and talents He has graciously given us, but to help others in the process.  There are certain individuals that I know that have dedicated their lives to serving others and not themselves.  I consider that agape love that is not self-seeking.  I want to be like that!

The next characteristics of love is, “it is not easily angered”.  Wow, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t struggle with this.   A husband one day said to his wife, “You do not fight back when I get mad at you, how do you control your anger?” The wife responded, “I clean the toilet….” He said, “How does that help?” To which she said, “I use your toothbrush.”  I think it’s important to realize that this verse says that love is not EASILY angered.  It doesn’t say that there is never going to be moments where anger rises, but we have to learn to control it.  Thank the Lord for friends that can help us in this and hold us accountable.

I think the end of the chapter is my favorite…”Love never fails.”  This is when I know that only God is the one who has true Agape love.  I hate to think of all the times that I fail my family or even myself, but God never fails.  In all the hardships of life and rushing around, God never leaves us.  He is always there patiently waiting and guiding us.  God’s love (Agape) never fails!