Today's vitamin - agape love

Our final "vitamin" for this week is charity:

............add to brotherly kindness charity....... (v.7)

Now, I expect that all of know that Peter is not talking about dropping off our sacks of gently-worn shoes and purses at the Salvation Army drop off.... not that kind of charity. (Grin)
The Greek word here is "agape."
The previous vitamin was the Greek word "philadelphia" which means brotherly love. It applied to the kindness and care that we should use when we interact with all human beings here on the planet.
Agape love is unconditional, all-encompassing love. I think that it's the special care that we should provide for believers. Why do I say that? Aren't we supposed to love everyone? Of course! But John quotes Jesus as saying:

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Jesus is pointing out the specific situation of fellow-disciples. Fellow believers. And so I believe (with the Spirit's help) that Peter is talking here about the "agape" love that we should show to other Christians.
Hmmmmmm. Since Peter is exhorting us to apply all diligence to brotherly affection and to love, it stands to reason that he thought he needed to remind us.....these are not spontaneous qualities. Not typical human characteristics. Sad but true. We actually must work at these, and often go against our fleshly feelings of pride, laziness, or even self-centeredness to demonstrate love for others!

I'll be the first one to be honest, raise my hand, and say, "Sometimes I just don't feel like loving everyone! And when I'm blue, I especially want other people to love me!"
Yep.
Think we may need an example here. Someone that we can look at and model ourselves after.
Oh! How about this?
Agape love is the love that Jesus possesses for us! It's the love that propelled Him to come down to earth. It's the love that motivated Him to go to the cross and die for us. And it's the love that we should have for others.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Never-ending.
In-spite-of-insults.
Through-the-pain.
Self-sacrificing.
Unconditional.
The kind of love that puts God first, others second, and ourselves last.

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)

Everything that we do should be rooted in love. Love for God, and also love for others.
Agape love is unconditional, and it's not judgmental. It's not our place to speak condemnation to anyone. As Christians, we must love our fellow believers and serve others; reach out to the unbelievers and disciple them. This can be difficult! Some folks aren't easy to love!

Paul showed us a good example in this message to a group of people who had caused him a lot of harm:

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel.... (Romans 9:1-4a)

Paul had a burden for those Jews and Jewish religious leaders who had harmed him; in spite of the abuse and physical harm, he was so anxious for them to be saved that he would be willing to sacrifice his place in heaven, so that they didn't go to hell! That's agape!

We spoke last week of the billion dollar industries of vitamin supplements, gymnasiums and fitness memberships; of spas and exercise regimens. The commercials tout products that will give you "fast results." People want to be fitter, stronger, better -- and they want it to happen quickly!

There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth, however. It's a long and sometimes difficult task to grow and mature in Christ. But the end result is so worth it!
We've been given everything that we need to grow. Let's start adding these vitamins to our faith!