Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Have you ever wondered why Paul writes so many examples of how we are to love one another? Do we not know how to love one another? If that sounds silly then I would ask you to look into your own lives and compare 1 Corinthians 13 verses on how love acts with those who were in your life that said they loved you.

What we first know about love is exampled to us and even in that we do not always understand what that means to us in personal growth and behavior. No matter how well we were loved and no matter how well we tried to use those examples as models of our own behavior, it is not Agape love. Parental love is close but flawed because they are human. Romantic love is close but is by natural selfish because it demands a reciprocal effort or it dies out. The love of friends is good but comes in a distant third here.

Allow me to point out the most important words of the opening verse. “as God for Christ’s sake hath” Love as God loves, Agape. God loves us for His Son’s sake. We are unlovable without the Son. In this manner I can love you with the six Greek words for love on my own, to no end, to no gain. But to love you with the seventh, Agape, I need the Son. I cannot do it on my own.

The example set before us is Christ, perfect love. If we act as Christ acted, it is but an act, a pale comparison of true Agape love.

Ephesians 3:17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

That I cannot do without Him.