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HE Ontgomery Aptist: Upcoming Events
HE Ontgomery Aptist: Upcoming Events
UPCOMING EVENTS
Christians who read and study their Bibles know that it speaks
specifically of three types of love in the Greek language: eros - the erotic love
Ken May
Director of Missions
of romance and personal satisfaction; phileo - the love of a man to his fellow
Montgomery Baptist Association
man as to a brother; and agape - the selfless love God demonstrated to us in
sending Jesus Christ. When Jesus asked Simon Peter, Do you love me? in John 21, he used
agape the first two times, but Peter answered, Yes, I phileo you. When Jesus asked the third
time, He used the word phileo and Peter responded as he had the first two times using the word
phileo. It seems obvious to me and probably to you that Jesus would prefer we love Him
and people in our world with AGAPE love, selfless love, because that is the kind of love
Jesus demonstrated towards us.
My question for your reflection today is, Do you love people for who they are as
creations of God, or do you love them for what they can do for you? I dare say most of us spend
time with people when we believe that time might benefit us or our church. This is evidenced by
the comments of many who have said, We invited them to our church, but they did not come.
In other words, we were looking for what they could do for us fill a space in our Sunday School
class or worship center.
Now, it is okay to let people do things for us. We dont need to be so proud that no one
can offer us anything. Jesus allowed the woman at the well to give him water. In that
conversation, he took time to listen and offer her the genuine love and acceptance she had
struggled so hard to achieve. He gave it freely. She became a missionary to her own town
because of the selfless love of Jesus, saying, Come see a man who told me all I ever did. Can
this be the Messiah? We certainly need to acknowledge that we can learn from unbelievers
and the unchurched in our world.