"Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest of the four types of love in the Bible"
Definition from about.com
As a former negotiator, I understand the concept of quid pro quo. You go into a deal with the aspiration of coming out with something of value. Get more than you give. If you ever wanted to commit suicide with your career, you would go into a negotiation and "give away the store". Give up everything and get nothing in return. To be successful however, sometimes you need to walk away from the negotiation battlefield with "blood on your hands". To the victor go the spoils and all that stuff.
This is intuitive thinking. To understand Agape Love, you must think (from human terms), from a counter intuitive perspective. We are programmed to think conditionally, so the idea of unconditional love is both foreign and often times, uncomfortable.
Yet, this is the type of love which is shown to us each and every day by God. We are all of us, undeserving of this type of love God shows us on a daily basis. No strings attached. No conditions. No quid pro quo.
It has often been said there is nothing so good we can do that God will love us more and nothing so bad we can do that God will love us less. That concept is so antithetical to human thinking it is almost impossible to comprehend. Love with no boundaries, no conditions, no nothing - just pure love.
As humans, we will never be able to love in the same manner God does. If we could, it would be a game changer. Imagine what this world would look like if we could love like God. However, we can aspire to love more like God and less like man. Showing grace, forgiving more and serving with passion would be a good place to start.
Agape will always be a mystery to most. However, it is also the greatest gift we have. Out of Agape Love came Jesus - for God so loved this world, he gave his only begotten son. With that gift of hope, of life, we experience no better example of true Agape Love.
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