LOVE BEYOND SIGHT
- UnstoppableRevKev
- Sep 1
- 2 min read
📖Scripture: “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.” -1 Peter 1:8a
🔎Reflection: In 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter testifies to the Holy Spirit-gifted love of faithful saints who have never laid their eyes on Christ. This love is not phileo (brotherly), eros (romantic), or even storge (familial), but AGAPE love—the same divine, self-sacrificial love God has poured into our hearts by His Spirit (Rom 5:5).
Agape love flows not from sight or sentiment, but from Holy Spirit-wrought regeneration (John 3:3). As King Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have faith” (John 20:29). This demolishes modern pseudo-Christianity, which insists that love for Christ is authenticated through experiences, spectacles, and feelings. But Scripture reveals that agape love for Christ is validated without our ever having seen Him in! It manifests not in casting out demons and great miracles, but through quiet, humble, and devoted service in and through the Body & Bride of Christ, not some private, selfish, or spectacle-oriented spirituality. As John writes: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). Authentic agape love always manifests in covenant devotion to the Bride of Christ, expressed in sacrificial service (Eph 5:25-27) for the edification of the Church to the glory of God.
🤺Action: Today’s testing: Ask the LORD to examine your heart. Does my “love for Christ” show up in unrelenting devotion to His Bride? Is my affection for the church because it serves me with the stuff I want: programs, entertainment, and unhealthy comfort-food spirituality? Does my devotion to Christ truly look like those elect, empowered exiles of 1 Peter… faithful saints who chose to give up everything rather than recant or renounce their authentic AGAPE LOVE for Christ Jesus… people who were salt & light… people who advanced Christ’s kingdom with costly, inconvenient, and humble “others-centered” service?
🙏Prayer: LORD Jesus, though my eyes have never seen You in person, I know it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit within me that I can love You with God-honoring agape love. Please forgive me for the times when I settle for counterfeit love that seeks my comfort and recognition rather than your glory. Please continue to teach me to see You in and through Your WORD, the Holy Bible. Please give me a heart overflowing with AGAPE LOVE to serve You in humility through Your Body & Bride, so that my devotion reflects Your perfect love displayed at the cross. King Jesus, I pray all this in your holy and precious Name to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
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Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
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