Are you aware that the New Testament describes two distinctly different types of love that are available for us to know about, experience, and demonstrate? These are expressed in the Greek as agapē, divine love or the love of God, and philia, natural or human love. It is agapē love, the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, that never fails!
How is this unique and unfailing agapē love received and demonstrated toward God and others? Manifesting agapē love is possible only to those born again of God’s spirit. At the very moment of the new birth (Romans 10:9, I Peter 1:23), we received God’s gift of holy spirit and the spiritual ability to manifest our Father’s agapē love toward Him and toward others. We can’t feel, smell, taste, or touch God’s nature of love, but His Word tells us we have it, as seen in Romans 5:5, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [holy spirit] which is given unto us.”
As we choose to renew our minds and walk according to God’s Word, we can demonstrate this agapē love of God that never fails. It takes faithfully deciding day-by-day to manifest that love, one thought and one action at a time.
Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Several years ago, a secular song that was very popular began with the words, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Without a doubt, God needs us to renew our minds and demonstrate His agapē love to the world.
Philia, natural or human love, can fluctuate with feelings and emotions. It can be manifested by any person but provides no assurances for trustworthiness or long-lasting success. In contrast, God’s love, agapē, as manifested by the believer, is uniquely guaranteed to never fail!
I Corinthians 13:8 [The Amplified Bible (1987)]:
Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]….
“Never” means not ever, not at any time. God wants us to clearly know that not ever, not at any time, will agapē love fail—it will never become obsolete or fade away. It will always be spiritually advantageous. One paraphrase of the Bible says it this way: “It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.”
Through the ministry of The Way International, I have come to know this entirely different, unique kind of love that the world needs now and in the future. This love is not human or natural love (philia) but divine love (agapē)—God’s love. This is the type of love that our heavenly Father has for us and we can have toward others. God’s Word teaches us how to live according to this divine love, which is significantly different from philia love. As His children we can choose to renew our minds and manifest agapē love toward others.
I Corinthians 13:13:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity [agapē, the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation], these three; but the greatest of these is charity [agapē].
What the world needs now, as well as in the future, is the love of God, for it never fails.