All we need is love?
August 3 - 9, 2025 | Always Peachy Devotionals | Love Week 1
We talk about love a lot these days.
Whether you travel in religious circles or secular circles, love usually comes up in some context throughout conversation. It’s an essential part of the human experience, and most of us have had both positive and negative associations with it.
The trouble with love, however, is that everyone seems to have a different way to define it. That’s not just a secular problem either; it’s something that comes up in the church as well. What does it actually mean to love someone? Jesus told us to love each other, but how do we do it?
When you start digging into the different words for “love” in the Bible, it can get overwhelming pretty fast. There are so many of them! Both Greek and Hebrew are so precise in how they define and describe emotions that they needed more than one word to explain what kind of love someone was expressing. Frankly, English is such a clunky language that it’s no wonder we confuse the definitions of love. English-speakers use that one word to mean so many different things, and culturally we are paying the price for that.
Is love just about sex? Is it only for romantic situations? Is it solely intended to be a religious thing? Or is it supposed to be something that only happens among people who don’t know Jesus? Where do you draw the lines?
Well, for the next four weeks, we’re going to be talking about Love in many of its forms and definitions. I can’t believe I’ve been writing these devotions since the end of 2021, and I haven’t done a series on Love yet. We are going to deep dive (at least, as deep as I can dive) into what Love looks like in Scripture, what the different definitions of the Greek and Hebrew words mean along with their connotations, and how we need to implement biblical love in our lives every day.
I do want to say, however, that I am not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t speak Greek or Hebrew; I barely read it after it’s been transliterated. What we’re going to be discussing here is what I have been able to research and understand from my own study using various commentary and trustworthy resources. When I can, I’ll include links to the information I’ve found if you want to go deeper than we have time for in our time together.
So … let’s talk about Love.
What kinds of love does the Bible mention? Well, I’m sure this isn’t an exhaustive list, but here’s some of what I came up with:
Aheb
Hesed
Racham
Dod
Agape
Storge
Phileo
Eros
Each one of those words is either a Greek or Hebrew word for Love, and they mean different things and represent different relationships. Of all of those, the three that I can find the most information about are Phileo, Agape, and Hesed. So week two, three, and four of this month will focus on them specifically. But that means this week, we are getting to chat about the others.
Monday - Aheb (Joshua 23:11)
Tuesday - Racham (Zechariah 7:9)
Wednesday - Dod (Song of Solomon 6:3)
Thursday - Eros (1 Corinthians 7:5)
Friday - Storge (Romans 12:10)
I’m so excited to dive into this topic. Just in my own studying I’ve already learned things I didn’t know about the concept of Love. I’m excited to share what I’ve uncovered with you.
And for our memory verse this week? Well, when I was thinking of verses that would be great to learn in connection with this topic, I immediately thought of 1 John 4:19.
Isn’t that beautiful? I have known this verse as long as I have known how to sing. It’s a lyric in the old Sunday school song, “Oh How I Love Jesus!” But once we really grasp what this statement means, it changes everything.
It’s easy to think that we love each other because of behaviors or choices or kindness. And, sure, that’s fine. But loving someone because of what they have done for you is the way the world looks at love. It’s conditional.
When I tell someone I love them, it’s not because of anything they have done for me or will do for me. I love them because Jesus loves me unconditionally, so I can share. First and foremost, I choose to love the people around me because Jesus loves me. I am safe in His love, so it doesn’t matter how anyone else sees me or what anyone else thinks of me.
Jesus’ love gives me all the foundation, all the strength, all the guidance I need to face any challenge. The question is, can I accept His love?
We’re going to talk about that a little bit this month too.
Praying for you this week!
Amy
Remember! These Sunday intro emails are free, but if you want the actual daily devotions, you need to subscribe: