Matthew 22:37-39

Agape.

Phileo.

Eros.

This weekend I learned in Greek there are three types of love. In Matthew 22:37-39, "And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Jesus is talking about agape love. Agape means self-sacrificial, choice based love. Phileo is a friendship type of love and eros is passionate love. Agape love is what Jesus asks of us in Matthew 22:37-39; both in the sense of loving Him and loving our neighbors.

Jesus desires us to do things out of love, not feeling. A friend told me that motivation is like the icing on a cake. She said the best things done are things we don't feel like doing, but do anyway.

That strikes a cord in me. God wants us to do things we don't necessarily want to do. I don't believe He has us do things we hate, but things that if we had the choice, we'd probably choose not to do. That's agape love. Sacrificing comfort and choosing to do things we don't want to.