I have a habit of looking at the Greek meanings of the translated words in the Bible. Usually I will look up a single word or phrase from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance on biblos.com. I am fascinated by words in general, and I love it when a word means something deeper and more profound than the English translation makes it out to be.
For instance, in 1 Peter 1:22 it says "love one another earnestly". I've always taken "earnestly" to mean what it means in English: that is, seriously, honestly, in a serious manner, etc. If the translation is left there, it means enough for us to know that we ought to love one another without deceit. We ought to love one another in truth.
Yet it was fascinating to me to read what the Greek word actually meant by "earnestly".
The word is ektenášs, and it means fully-stretched. It describes kind of the idea of being extended out to the full potential. Sort of like pulling a rubber band to its maximum capacity - or chewing gum until all the flavour is gone. Leaving nothing. The idea then is loving one another without letting up, or without leaving any love unused. It means loving strenuously, to the full and necessary outcome.
That's the way Christ loves us - to the necessary outcome, which was death on the cross. He loved us so much that He went to the cross in pain, suffering and separation, bearing our sins upon His shoulders. He loved us so much that He gave us His own righteousness, which was another necessary outcome of His love - giving us all that He has.
Do I love others earnestly? Some days, I feel as though I hardly know what love is. Yet I am learning what God's love is for me. God's love is earnest. God's love is fully-stretched.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Jesus loves us earnestly. He allowed Himself to be stretched out, chewed completely, poured out like a drink offering, spent - for our sake.
ReplyDeleteI love so poorly. But thanks be to God, He is teaching me a better way. I am learning to lean on Jesus, and to yield to His loving through me.
Thanks for this. HUGS.
Another way to understand loving earnestly would to suggest loving someone past our own personal comfort zone. Not just loving in theory, like, oh yeah, I love that person, but I certainly refuse to speak to them...but loving in action, which is real love, and so moving past everything and just being there for one another. Earnestly. Not an easy task.
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