“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13 ESV
I found it difficult to understand how anyone might show the greater love mentioned by Jesus, “to lay down his life for his friends.” Then I read news blurbs about Dick Eastland, co-owner and director of Camp Mystic which was built on the banks of the Guadalupe River. He was swept away during the flash flood early Saturday morning, July 5, while rescuing girls at the Christian summer camp. The water along the riverbanks reportedly rose 26 feet within 45 minutes.
When we see someone in earnest need of help, we rush in because we intensely will the best for them, and that is agape love. It may be a violent robbery at a subway station, a cry for help from a swimmer trapped in river currents as we sunbath on the beach, or witnessing an attack from a wild animal along a hiking trail in a national park. Whatever the scenario, agape love causes us to rush in.
Giving Not Getting
Dick Eastland was practicing selflessness as rising water rushed through cabins at dawn. Most likely he was not thinking about what his efforts would personally cost him but rather the good of others. The young campers and counselors needed to be rescued, guided to high ground so they would not be swept away and he was committed to the task.
To give out such love we need to be personally filled with it. It’s not natural, it comes from God. The Holy Spirit pours God’s agape love into our hearts. This love is “An intelligent, purposeful attitude of esteem and devotion; a selfless, purposeful, outgoing attitude that desires to do good to the one loved.”1
God demonstrates this love. Jesus Christ redeemed us by paying the penalty for our sin on the cross. He laid down His life for each person who has been reconciled to God through His selfless act.
In a day when many ask, “What’s in it for me?” those filled with agape love run into danger to rescue others unconcerned about the reward or cost. That was Eastland.
In His Word
Agape love is not based on how worthy the object of this love is, whether the recipient is deserving. God demonstrated this aspect of agape when Christ died for sinners, according to the apostle Paul (Romans 5:8). That means none of us are worthy whether we are considered outstanding citizens or not.
Sacrifice is also a hallmark of agape. God sacrificed His Son because He willed the best for humanity, a restored relationship with Him. Are we willing to sacrifice what’s best for us for the benefit of another?
In 1 Corinthians we find a comprehensive description of agape in chapter 13.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor 13:4-7 ESV
We can define agape love as unconditional, sacrificial, patient, kind, enduring, protective, hopeful, and originating form God’s own nature.
Walking it Out
It is good to know what agape love looks like by knowing Scripture, but it requires a work of the Spirit to live it.
When 50,000 Jews, exiled in Babylon, were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple the prophet Zechariah gave them a message from the Lord. The temple would not be built by human skills, resources, or determination but by the power of God.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6 ESV
Because agape love is a selfless love it comes with surrender. We humble ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to do the work with no thought to our abilities, resources, or willpower.
Perhaps agape love happens when we rush in, fully committed to the task at hand. It’s not calculated or planned. We have no time to think about our abilities or the object of this love. Therefore, we rely completely on God.
©2025 Susan Cort Johnson *All Rights Reserved
1-Abide, A Study of 1,2,&3 John by Jen Wilkin published by Lifeway Press in Brentwood, TN.