Pure love

 

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart – 1 Peter 1.22

 

Sincere love

Fervent love

Pure love

 

It seems like every few days in normal scripture reading we come across something about love and how we are to love.

 

I like this passage because it talks about the attitude behind love. It speaks to the kind of heart that loves with God’s love. It requires a heart that is sincere and fervent and pure.

 

Too often what we call love is something based on what we can get out of it. We love to get loved back or we love as a result of how we are treated. Our love is conditioned on exterior factors.

 

That’s not what agape love is though. Agape love is based only on giving with thinking of the consequences. It is sincere in that it is based only on what I can do for others. It is fervent in that it is my driving force in how I deal with others. It is my motivator. It is based on the love of Christ that constrains me in all I do. It is pure in that it is done without being mixed with anything else.

 

Help me to love with a sincere, fervent, and pure love that only comes from Christ love for me.