asbc seek devotionals 2025 2 - Flipbook - Page 72
DEVOTIONAL JOURNAL | ALFRED STREET BAPTIST CHURCH
Day 34: LOVE
beyond conditions
REV. DR. ROBERT “TY” JONES
“…but do not have love; I gain nothing.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:3 NIV
As a child, I remember learning the lyrics penned by Kirk Franklin: “Love is a word that
comes and goes, but do people really know what it means to really love somebody?”
I’m always struck by the flippant use of the word “love.” Is everyone worthy of your,
“I love you?” Maybe... maybe not. It’s a decision that you could get to make with every
encounter.
Kirk’s lyrics ring true, “…but do people really know what it means to really love
somebody?”.
Many are aware of the various Greek expressions of love. If you have grown up in
church any amount of time, then you have heard the term agape associated with God’s
love for us. The term agape is usually further defined as “unconditional.” I truthfully
understand the spirit behind the definition, but it seems short-sighted. All of us enter
into relationships with conditions. Whether familial, platonic, or romantic, “ conditions
“ are typically put into place. And when one party deems the “conditions” are not being
met, their “love” is rescinded.
We live in a world where love is always connected to conditions. It’s typically always
transactional. This is what makes agape so powerful. It’s God’s disposition to us not
based on conditions, but despite any conditions. God loves you. God loves me. There
is no condition or circumstance that you and I can find ourselves wherein God’s gaze
towards us isn’t loving. And that love has requirements. It makes a call to each of us in our
relationships with our “neighbor” and even our enemies. Jesus loves me, this I know….
and it will never change.
JOURNAL REFLECTIONS
How am I to mirror the Love that God has
for me to enemies? Scripture says, “God is
Love.” How does this revelation inform the
posture of my prayers during SEEK?
72
PRAYER
Lord, we know you love us; allow the Love you have for
us to be the spring by which we draw Love for ourselves
and those surrounding us.
