Episode Details

When one word covers your commitment to your spouse and your love of deep dish pizza, it's been spread a little thin. In Part 12 of our "Made for Something" series, Pastor Mike Woodruff recovers the richer, tougher meaning of biblical love and shows why it changes how we treat the people God puts around us.

Mike walks through the Greek words behind the English "love": eros (romantic attraction), phileo (brotherly affection, the root of Philadelphia), and agape, the big one. Agape is selfless commitment, love that is not first a feeling but a choice. When Scripture commands us to love one another, it isn't asking for warm feelings. It's asking us to do right by people and care for them. Paul's famous description in 1 Corinthians 13 (patient, kind, not self-seeking, keeping no record of wrongs) is a list of actions, not butterflies in the stomach. Mike shares what he tells couples at weddings, then brings in C.S. Lewis's advice from Mere Christianity: don't manufacture feelings, act as if you love someone, and real affection will follow. Applied to the church, that means patience with the actual, occasionally exasperating people in your circle: showing up when it's inconvenient, serving without recognition, forgiving without keeping the receipt, and speaking truth without wielding it. Mike closes with a practical challenge: put yourself where agape can happen.

This is Part 12 of our multi-week series on being made for something greater than yourself, continuing our look at the second half of the Greatest Commandment: loving the people God puts around you.

📖 Scripture focus: 1 Corinthians 13:4-6; John 13:35; Matthew 22:39
🎙️ Speaker: Pastor Mike Woodruff
📅 "Made for Something" Devotional Series, a multi-week journey into purpose and calling

In this devotional you'll learn:

• The difference between eros, phileo, and agape in the Greek New Testament
• Why biblical love is a choice and a commitment, not primarily an emotion
• What 1 Corinthians 13 says love looks like in action
• C.S. Lewis's advice: act as if you love someone, and feelings will follow
• What it means to love the church, including its imperfect and exasperating people
• A practical challenge: join a small group, serve on a team, and say yes to Bible study

👉 New to our devotionals? We post short, daily devotionals designed to help you start your day grounded in Scripture. "Made for Something" is a multi-week series exploring purpose, calling, and what it means to be made on purpose, for a purpose.

Frequently asked:
What is agape love in the Bible? Agape is the Greek word for selfless, committed love. It is not first a feeling but a choice to seek another person's good, which is the kind of love Scripture commands believers to show one another.
What does 1 Corinthians 13 say about love? Paul describes love as patient and kind, not envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking, or easily angered, and as keeping no record of wrongs. These are descriptions of actions, not emotions.
How do I love people I don't feel warmly toward? Drawing on C.S. Lewis, Mike suggests acting as if you love them: serve them, seek their good, and hold your tongue for their sake. Feelings tend to follow behavior more reliably than behavior follows feelings.
How will the world know we are Christians? In John 13:35, Jesus says people will know we belong to him by our love for one another.

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