Love in a Marriage: Agape

As I mentioned yesterday, there are three types of love that complete a marriage. The first one we are going to discuss is Agape love. Agape love is an unconditional love. Unconditional love does not put conditions on it, which means that the love is always present, always strong. Who wouldn't want that kind of love? Agape love is a sort of anchor in a marriage because it gives each person confidence and security in their spouse and self to know they will always love each other no matter what.

Now the reality is that unconditional or agape love is the goal, but humans are not really capable of 24/7 unconditional love. We are flawed human beings who get emotional, irritable, angry, selfish, and a whole assortment of other things. That reality does not give us an excuse to throw agape love out the window though. It is the goal, which means we are constantly striving to set ourselves and humanity aside to provide unconditional/agape love for our spouse. What is great is that when two people are demonstrating agape love, the other person's love covers those times when maybe our spouse is a little less than loving a day or two. It's almost an insurance policy on the marriage - one is always providing coverage for the other to keep the marriage strong, anchored, and secure.

There is a story that agape love stirs in me that I thought I would share. It is of two women arguing over a child, both claiming that it is hers. Brought before the king, the 2 ladies both continue to claim the child is hers. The king decides that a sword should be put to the child to divide it in half - one half for each of the women. One of them protested and said to just give the child to the other, while the other was going to just allow this division to happen. So, the king stopped the act, and had the child given to the one who protested the act and was willing to give the child to the other lady. He claimed that she was the mother. If you would like to read this story in more detail, you can find it in the Bible - 1 Kings 3:16-28. This mother demonstrated agape love. She would have given up her child to someone else to be raised rather than to see it harmed. We need to be willing to love our spouses no matter what the circumstance. It is easy to love someone when they are deserving, kind, thoughtful, etc., but can you love them when they are not any of that?

Agape love is unconditional. All marriages need that kind of love - secure, covering, anchoring. If we all practice agape love toward one another, we would be cultivating the other 2 loves, which will be discussed later this week. Stay tuned!