Extraordinary Ordinary!Campione

And finally, Peter reminds us of the important role that heartfelt and genuine love plays in a life of God’s design. The Greek word that Peter uses to describe this love is agape, which is the specific type of love God gives to us. Quite simply, we are to love others the way we have been loved by the Father.

We agape the people in our lives not because we feel like it or because a person has done something to deserve our love, but because God loves us in that unconditional way and we are to imitate God in all that we do, say, and choose. We do not love a person because he or she loves us and always acts in a kind and loving manner, but we love because Christ expects it and instructs it.

Agape love can be revealed in uncountable ways every day of life. It is demonstrated by the words that you speak, the way you spend your time, how generously you lavish your affections, what heart attitudes you have embraced, and by your daily actions.

God often places thorny, cantankerous, and disagreeable people in our lives simply to bring out the strength of unconditional love in us. God gives His children the opportunity to respond with His kind of love when confronted by irascible specimens of humanity. Perhaps that ornery person with whom you contend daily is not meant to reveal your worst side, but to prove to the world, and to the enemy, that you really are like your Dad.

When you are forced to love a person with sincere agape love, it is in that moment in life when God is giving you the opportunity to love like He loves you. Whenever I am given an opportunity to reveal God’s love and heart to an especially difficult person, I am in awe of Who God is and how He loves me unconditionally and relentlessly in spite of my dysfunction.