Ahavah

Maschiach Yeshua's emissary Shaul wrote, “If I lack love, I become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.” (1 Corinthians 13:1) He was talking about ahavah (Greek agape), a love that is selfless and giving, that is self-denying. The Western concept of love is very limited anymore, and the entertainment industry has given people a warped understanding of what love is, placing it in a sexual-romantic setting. Ahavah is love, but love does not mean ahavah, because ahavah means so much more than what we understand the word love to mean. The King of the Universe, blessed is He, loved us so much that He gave us His Torah so that we would know what His will is. He loved us so much, that He gave us Maschiach, that we might not perish. Yeshua's ahavah for us was so great, that he gave everything he had for us, including his life. He didn’t take the lives of others, but gave his own. Ahavah is probably the most important characteristic we can display in our in our relationship with the Holy Creator, and with our fellow human beings, to show that we are walking the path that G-d has set out for us. Yeshua tells us to love Adonai our G-d (the first and most important commandment), and love our neighbors as ourselves (the second commandment), and that in doing this, all of the Torah and Prophets are fulfilled. To walk in ahavah is to subject our will to the will of G-d, to become His bond-servant, and to live according to His precepts.

Shaul wrote to us, “I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels; but if I lack love, I have become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging. I may have the gift of prophecy, I may fathom all mysteries, know all things, have all faith — enough to move mountains; but if I lack love, I am nothing. I may give away everything that I own, I may even hand over my body to be burned; but if I lack love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not gloat over other people's sins but takes its delight in the truth. Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures. Love never ends; but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8 CJB) Look at what he says, “I may fathom all mysteries, know all things, have all faith — enough to move mountains; but if I lack love, I am nothing. I may give away everything that I own, I may even hand over my body to be burned; but if I lack love, I gain nothing.” Do you get it? Do you understand what he is saying? We can walk a perfect, Torah observant life, a life where we do absolutely everything perfectly according to Torah, but if we don't have ahavah, we have wasted our time. It means absolutely nothing at all. We might as well have mowed the lawn on the Sabbath, and then enjoyed bacon wrapped shrimp for dinner, because without ahavah, what we do, and what we live means absolutely nothing to our Holy Creator.

We need to be passionate about what we believe, especially concerning our walk with G-d, our Torah walk, and our walk with the Living Torah, and we need to cherish it, but when we forget ahavah, then we have done the opposite, and we have only brought HaShem's wrath on ourselves. When we forget ahavah, and we start to put down other people, because they don't agree with us, or because they don't quite get it, then we have turned away from G-d and what He has taught us. When we take on a hostile demeanor, and we attack others, even to the point where we spill their blood, we have forsaken our G-d and Creator, and become worshippers of the pagan gods, offering up human blood sacrifices. Nothing, absolutely nothing ever justifies forgetting ahavah when we are dealing with other people. I've been guilty of that sin in the past (for lacking ahavah is a sin), and I have been a recipient of such as well. Ahavah is more important to G-d than anything else we can give Him. If we walk Torah perfectly, but have not ahavah, or as Shaul said, “I may even hand over my body to be burned; but if I lack love, I gain nothing.” Conversely, if we make mistakes from time to time, but we are trying our best, when we fail and we do teshuvah (repent) with ahavah for our Father in Heaven, then He will overlook those mistakes, just like a human father overlooks the mistakes of his child, when the child doesn't get it quite right.

The next time we deal with another person, with another individual who is created in the image of G-d, we must consider carefully how we treat them. This is true even if we strenuously disagree with them, or if we even find them to be offensive. If we throw ahavah out the window, and we just let them “have it”, we will have only heaped up coals of judgment for ourselves, and Yeshua has told us that the Righteous Judge WILL hold us accountable for every word we utter, and every action we take. “Moreover, I tell you this: on the Day of Judgment people will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken; for by your own words you will be acquitted, and by your own words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37 CJB)

Stop. Think. We must speak our words carefully, and with ahavah. Our actons must be actions done with ahavah in mind. We must not give HaShem cause to judge against us. In everything we do and say, we must do it with ahavah and with compassion, mercy, and justice, for those are the qualities that our L-rd and G-d is looking for in us. Truly, a day is coming when everyone will walk with their brother and sister in ahavah, Isaiah 2:4 CJB He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades and their spears into pruning-knives; nations will not raise swords at each other, and they will no longer learn war. May Maschiach come soon, and may He bring those days of peace and joy with him, that we may all live together as neighbors, and not as enemies. May the light of His ahavah fill our souls and shine forth, bringing His light and shalom to the nations of the world.

'Y'varekh'kha Adonai v'yishmerekha. (25) Ya'er Adonai panav eleikha vichunekka. (26) Yissa Adonai panav eleikha v'yasem l'kha shalom.
[May Adonai bless you and keep you. May Adonai make his face shine on you and show you his favor. May Adonai lift up his face toward you and give you peace.]'