E.W. Kenyon was a renowned teacher of the word of God who went home to be with the Lord in 1948. Till today, his books continue to bless multitude all over the world. He gave a very profound definition of the opposite of love. He said the opposite of love is not hate or hatred, as many think.
According to him, the opposite of love is self-centeredness, which is selfishness. Hatred, bitterness, jealousy and all other vices are off shoots of selfishness. There are two kinds of love — the natural human love, which is self-centred and the God’s kind of love called, “agape love.” Agape love does not seek it’s own. It is sacrificial love. This is the love that God demonstrated by sending His only begotten son, Jesus, to bear our sins on the Cross to save us from eternal damnation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God’s kind of love is what sustains a marriage and causes a family to enjoy the Garden of Eden kind of family life. Natural human love can fail and pack up when under pressures and strains of problems targeted at its destruction.
It can hardly survive the storms and turbulence that can come upon a marriage and family. This is the major reason for broken homes and marriages. When the chips are down in a marriage run by the natural human love, the tendency is for each party to put self ahead of a spouse or any other member of the family. It is called the survival instinct, self-preservation. The union falls apart; it is broken into pieces.
Practicing agape love makes a man to see his wife as his own body — “so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hateth his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.” The women under this atmosphere of love, finds it a lot easier to submit to the leadership of her husband. Peace and harmony reign in the family as God intended it at the Garden of Eden.
My advice is for couples to read through 1Corinthians13 from time to time, taking note of the characteristics of agape love and endeavouring to allow agape love to dwell and abound in their union.
God’s love (agape) can never go to a divorce court. God’s love is patient and kind and endures all things. It never fails. No matter what comes along, God’s love will always win. It can never be defeated in any combat with evil. Allowing God’s type of love to be in charge of your marriage and family brings in the original joy of the Garden of Eden.
Start to replace the natural human kind of love that now runs your marriage, family and relationship with God’s type of love. Release it. It is already in your heart at the point you got born again (Romans 5:5). Love you!
