When Podcasters talk about Love
Sometimes, I come across clips from secular, non-religious podcasts exploring various topics like finances, dating, marriage, hobbies and recreation work-life balance, etc. The content tends to be a mix of humorous anecdotes, life experiences and sports discussions, while most of it is fluffy conversations to pass the time. However, one recurring theme I realized was severely lacking in almost all the conversations was that of love or sacrifice.
Every time the word or concept of sacrifice is invoked, it is used toward the pursuit of some personal goal, e.g.: a promotion, a fitness goal or a retirement plan. The concept or word “love” is barely ever uttered unless it is invoked towards something quite mundane, “I loved that scene in that movie,” or “I just love this brand of coffee.” Many of the podcasters I listen to are married/dating so it is even more surprising that I never hear them say they love their significant others. In other words, “love” and “sacrifice” are primarily used towards things directed towards the self (e.g.: my personal savings/investment strategy or how a song made me feel), but rarely, if ever, directed towards another person outside of the self, i.e.: I love you and am willing to sacrifice myself for you.
The next time you watch a favorite TV show from within the last decade, see how the concepts of “love” and “sacrifice” are used. In my experience, amongst a new and younger generation, love has been reduced to personal responses towards how something makes one feel. Sacrifice has become what one is willing to persevere to gain a personal reward.
But imagine if this is how God used “love” and “sacrifice.” Conversely, in the Bible, the word continually used for “love,” agapē, is best translated as “sacrificial love.” For example: “For God so agapaō (sacrificially loved) the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16); or “But God proves His agapē (sacrificial love) for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8); or “Who shall separate us from the agapē (sacrificial love) of Christ” (Romans 8:35)? Likewise, all the Biblical admonitions to love, agapē (sacrificially love), one another.
Thus, in a society that is quickly forgetting the depth of love and sacrifice, can you imagine how countercultural we would appear if we practiced agapē? Perhaps our mission for today is to agapē in this way:
“Agapē is patient, agapē is kind; agapē is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Agapē does not insist on its way, agapē is not irritable or resentful, agapē does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Agapē bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (I Corinthians 13:4-7)
