We are all familiar with the commandment from Jesus to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. And the second is this; to love our neighbor as ourselves. Mark 12:30-31. The natural man thinks about love in two ways. One way is "eros". This type of love is a romantic love between a man and a woman. Another form of love is "phila", brotherly love. Brotherly love has many forms and extensions. These feelings are comprised of kindness, the deep desire for a well being of another, family, friends, and afar off. The highest form of God's love for humanity is "agape" love. This love is selfless, sacrificial and unconditional. We are commanded to have this type of love for humanity.
How then do we attain this kind of "love" without any prior knowledge, prejudice or relationships? How can we adjust our attitudes toward our neighbors that we don't even know near or far? I would often run into this snare because when I hear the word love, I think of intimacy or promoting the highest form of good for another person within various scopes of my relationships. How can I solve the love problem because in my flesh my love has it's limitations.
There were times when I would cry out for the God's type of love. So many questions, condemnation and hearing the voice of the enemy not whispering in my ear but blaring words "YOU ARE NOT WALKING IN LOVE" because I didn't have any feelings attached. This included my love for the Lord. To sing songs and quote scriptures and hear other exuberantly express their love to the Lord. Then my questions came. Do you love the Lord? Here I was again looking for a feeling, but then I went back to scripture where the Lord said "if you love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15 As I read Romans 13: 8-11 it was made clear "for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment in this saying; namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.. When we keep these commands the "agape" love of God is on display. As we walk in these commands our neighbors near or far will experience our expression of love as we keep His commandments.