Continuing in our series about the nature of love let's consider a couple of things that love cannot do:Agapē Cannot Envy
“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh but envy makes the bones rot.”
Proverbs 14:30
Because agapē is self-for-others, agapē cannot envy. That is the kernel and the central truth of agapē. It can only ever be “me for your benefit”. Envy is the signature of the self-life. Envy is the desire to take from others while agapē is compulsion to give to others. Envy demands that “what is yours is mine” whereas agapē declares “what is mine is yours”. Agapē gives all it has to us – for free.
All of us have felt envy’s sting while some of us bear its scars, physical and emotional scars, which run deep and these wounds run the deepest when the sting comes at the tail of “love”. There will be very few of us who have not been the victims of envy and/or jealousy and who have even been envious or jealous of others.
This article is an extract from Until Christ is Formed Safe & Sound Volume One
What is “envy”? Literally, “envy” is the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others. If allowed to take root, envy quickly and easily becomes jealousy. Jealousy is distinct from envy in that jealousy does not simply feel displeasure but goes on to give birth to an indignation which desires to deprive the victim of that which it is envious and take it for itself. In contrast, agapē is never jealous of you, it is jealous for you. Agapē loves people and uses things. It does not use people and love things.
Q: How do you feel knowing that God is not jealous of you but is jealous for you and that you will never need to be jealous ever again because part of His being jealous for you is that He is jealous on your behalf?
Agapē Cannot Boast
The reason why agapē cannot boast is self-evident. Agapē is others-centred while boasting is fundamentally about self-glorification. Boasting lies at the heart of Eros because it says, “Look at me, look how good I am!”
The hallmark of the child-teen phase of spiritual life is that we are used to relating everything to ourselves where, be it spiritual or material, the question we pose to ourselves is – “What is God saying to me through all these?” However, agapē is for others. In the “Father” phase, you, dear reader, will see that you are the Body which He has prepared. In that phase, you will see that the key to developing a proper self-image is not thinking less of yourself but rather, it is thinking of yourself less. Agapē is always a turning away from self. It is not self-deprecation but an appreciation of others; not a putting down of self so much as a lifting up of others; not boasting (which is “counter-intuitive” since the opposite of “boasting” is “humility”) and not humiliation but the lowering of self (condescension).
Agapē stoops. Because agapē is “me for others”, it revolutionises our interactions with others, giving us the ability and desire to listen. It also enables us to concentrate on being interested and not being interesting, to be impressed and not be impressive.
Q: How do you feel knowing that God never says, “Look how good I am” but instead, just boasts about how good you are?
 Add as favourites (60) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 2615
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4 |
What's On/Calendar 
Be first to comment this article
