FOUR KINDS OF LOVE

FOUR KINDS OF LOVE
"Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime," or so sings Dean Martin. And it is probably true. However, the "loving" is not so much the question, but rather, "What kind of love do we have?" Consider these four kinds of love.

AGAPE (uh gah pay), a Biblical word.
It is true that Christians do not have a monopoly on love, but it takes a living and loving relationship with Christ in order to experience the deepest kind of love, which in New Testament Greek is called "agape." This is the self denying, self sacrificing, pure love that God had for sinners when Jesus died on the cross. This is also called perfect love and is the love that flows from God, through His children, when there hearts are pure and delivered from all sin through entire sanctification.

PHILEO (fil a oh), a Biblical word.
Another spiritual love, yet separate from "agape love" is, "phileo" or brotherly love. It is the love that exists between very good friends. It is the kind of love that is generally associated with Christians. Those who are justified by faith experience this love for other people.This love is not to be confused with mere emotional or sensual/physical love.

STORGE, a word associated with a Biblical word (Ro. 12:10), which is translated as "being kindly affectioned.".
The most common kind of love that people relate to is "storge" or family love, love of a parent for a child (or between lovers and friends). Though this love is a good thing and is the product of "common grace" (grace extended to non-believers) it is not exclusively Christian. This is why we can say, "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime." But there is another "love" that is common to all men.

EROS
"Eros" love is a human love that may be described as "erotic" but it is also "erratic" in the sense that it is a love based on changing emotions, and may ignite into something that is not lovely. It is a love that rises from the natural man, rather than the spiritual man. Eros can be manifested through either intimacy or lust. It does not take a work of God's grace to experience "eros," but it does take a work of God's grace to bring the emotions, desires and drives under self control.

Everyone experiences love, but not everyone enters into the higher, deeper, more godly kinds of love. Trusting Christ, turning from sin and following Christ fully connects us to the Fountainhead of love Himself.

Search Me O God
Allow God to examine your heart, search your inner man. Take a look at your "love" life (love of others, love of God). Hopefully you have more than just an emotional love (eros) and more than just a family/friendship love (storge). Hopefully you have surrendered your life to Christ and have become a channel of (phileo), brotherly love. God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, which is (agape).

Loving in the way God wants us to love takes the miracle of God's presence and infilling.

Psalms 139:23-24

(23)  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

(24)  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.