God´s preference

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

1John4:16

When we (CADA) had decided to follow the global campaign 16 days of activism, as a platform posting daily devotions, we wanted to find a theme/slogan for this, and it should be something that described both God's nature and His aversion against all forms of domestic abuse and violence.

The bible is full of passages expressing this, but 1John 4:16 stood out to us as it tells us that God is love or Agape in the original KoineGreek, agape refers to a moral preference, or more specific to the text it means what God prefers. Sowhat is this preference that God has?

1Corinthians13 tells us; 4Loveis patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails........

None of these points leaves room for any kind of abuse if we hold ourselves and each other to them, so we can without a doubt conclude that God´s preference is a love that is not abusive, oppresive or violent, or as our theme/slogan became worded Agape love is notabusive!

This can and should give us great hope and comfort. 1Peter2:21 tells us how Christ left an example for us to follow, together with 1John4:16. We find that since God is love so Christ is love, and when we are abiding in Him following His example, then we are love lived out. So when John says that God remains in us then he also says that love remains in us, and His Agape-love becomes as a repellant to all kinds of evil, that restores the broken and sets us free from the bondage and effects of evil and sin, it builds us up, strengthens us and brings us closer to Him.

The more we get infused with His agape-love by walking in His example, the more the expressions of love in 1Corinthians becomes like a mirror to us where we reflect ourselves in His preference, but also it becomes the measure we value our relations by and see when something is wrong, and because it is His preference it can give us the strength and courage to change our situations from being abusive to being agape.

By; Mike Petersen

Lord we ask that you may remain in us so we become more like your Agape-love in action- words- mind and personality,

so your preference becomes our preference.