Godly Love

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:24)

There are three parts to this verse, each holding its own significant message.

1. “And let us consider one another”. The verse could end right here, in fact the entire chapter could end right here and would have put forth the most profound Christian ideal. Let us think about each other. To put into practice the simple idea of not putting ourselves first, but rather those around us. This is not just a thought, or practice, but a way of life.

2. “To provoke”. This is an interesting term. It means to irritate, incite or excite. To provoke is to motivate, to cause something to happen. And what is that something?

3.  “unto love and to good works”. There’s that word again, “love”. The Bible loves to use the word love. “Love thy neighbor”, yeah, well, what happens if you don’t even like your neighbor? It doesn’t matter, at least not with the love spoken of here.

Most people have heard there is this type of “Godly love” that the Greeks called “agape”. It is the basis of almost all love spoken of in the Bible. But “Godly love” isn’t really a good descriptive because it doesn’t really explain what agape is or what it does.

Agape or Godly love is concerned with the welfare of our fellow man. This is how “good works” ties in with the love. Agape is goodwill and benevolence towards others. It is help and care for someone else. In short, the agape type of love is our effort towards improving and bettering a person’s situation. We don’t have to know that person or even like that person to be able to love them in this manner.

Now let’s look at what we got when we add all three components together. We are to consider and to do for other people. We are to cajole others into thinking and doing the same. The key is the welfare and betterment of others and to cause and motivate folks to think and do likewise.

Godly love is more than concern over the welfare of others. Godly love is made manifest in the act of benevolence towards others.

Bill Hitchcock