Fall in Love with Jesus through Scripture

It’s the month of L-O-V-E!

Here’s a fun fact for you: There are seven Greek words that translate into our one English word “love”!

Agape is the highest form of love, meaning sacrificial or unconditional love. Eros is marital love, and might also be translated as lust. Philia means deep friendship love, the type we might use when we tell our best friends we love them. Storge is a family love, while ludus is a playful love, or first love. Pragma describes a long-standing love, and finally philautia refers to love of self.

Understanding these Greek words gives us a richer understanding of the way the New Testament uses the word translated “love.”

My favorite illustration of this comes from John 21:15-19. Take a minute to grab your Bible or your Bible app and read this. My Christian Standard Bible (CSB) titles this passage: “Jesus’s Threefold Restoration of Peter.”

For context, Peter adamantly argued he would forever stand by Jesus and promised his unwavering loyalty. When times are (relatively) easy, we have no problem predicting our behavior. Like most humans, though, when push came to shove, Peter’s true nature reared its ugly head. Jesus had been led away and forced to defend himself in a mock trial. Peter followed and watched from a courtyard. People recognized him and asked if he knew Jesus. He denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times. (Which Jesus foretold.)

The passage picks up after Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus was hanging out with his disciples before his ascension.

Looking to Peter, Jesus asked: “Do you love (agapas) me?”

Peter responded, “Yes, you know I love (philō) you.”

Did you catch it? Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me unconditionally and sacrificially?” Peter responded, “you know I have a deep friendship love for you.”

Jesus repeated his question in the same way, to which Peter responded in the same way.

See, Peter knows he is incapable of telling Jesus he loves him unconditionally and sacrificially. He isn’t capable of agape love in this moment. The denials in the courtyard proved this: Peter chose safety over the danger of associating with Jesus during his arrest and trial. In his response to Jesus, Peter admitted his shortcomings but told Jesus the love of which he is capable.

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love (phileis) me?”*

Jesus met Peter where he is. Jesus didn’t demand Peter admit to a love he was incapable of, or force Peter to achieve that level of love.

The same is true for us: Jesus meets us where we are. We don’t need to be perfect. We don’t need to have our lives in order. We don’t need to have an agape-level love of Jesus for him to love us back and use us for kingdom purposes!

The ideas we get in our head about how we should act or what we have to be in order to be worthy of God’s love come from the enemy. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy; he messes with our minds and makes us feel unworthy. Scripture, though, is medication for our weary souls. God shows us time and again through both His Word and His Son that all we need is faith. Not even a lot of it; faith the size of a mustard seed is plenty.

One of the most important actions we can take to fall in love with Jesus is to read God’s Word. Soak up Scripture and recognize what truly matters: faith. Jesus meets us where we are.

To God alone be all the glory and honor!

From God Not Her

*Please know there is SO much to be unpacked in this Scripture, including the reasons why this time Jesus returns to Peter’s original name, but we don’t have time for all that!

**There are a plethora of Scripture guides available! Some of my favorite are Bible in a Year with Father Mike Schmitz, The Bible Recap, and A Beautiful Year in the Bible.