Most Christians know what agape is. It’s the Greek word for love. Agape is the highest Christian virtue. It means “unconditional love.” Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 famously describes agape love and ends with extolling it as greater than even faith, which saves us, and hope, which sustains us.
But there is another biblical word for love which most Christians are unfamiliar with. It’s the Hebrew word “hesed.” Hesed, which is difficult to translate precisely, refers to the act of freely binding oneself to another in a covenant relationship and then keeping the terms of that covenant.
Marriage is the classic example of hesed love. In marriage, a man and a woman voluntarily enter into an agreement to love and cherish each other as long as they both live and then spend the rest of their married lives fulfilling their hesed covenant. Often, hesed is translated in the Old Testament as “lovingkindness,” but its real meaning is closer to “covenant keeping love,” or love that exists within the context of a covenant relationship.
The Old Testament sometimes refers to God’s relationship to Israel in terms of hesed love. God freely enters into his covenants with Israel because He loves her. And even though Israel is unfaithful to Him, He keeps His part of the bargain. This is one example of how God’s “hesed” – His “lovingkindness,” His “covenant keeping love” – endures forever.
While we’re most familiar with marriage as an example of hesed love, there are other ways we can experience this kind of love. Membership in the body of Christ through faith in Him and participating in a local church is another example of how Christians experience hesed love. The church is based on a covenant relationship – the New Covenant – and fulfilling this covenant with each other requires hesed love – “covenant keeping love.”
But in reality, there are an infinite number of possible ways for a believer to experience this kind of love. Anytime a believer freely makes a commitment of some kind to someone out of love for them, he or she is entering into a covenant relationship and is expressing hesed love.
A few years ago I was working with a widow up the street from us. She has since moved away, but at the time, she was in terrible shape. Her husband had died tragically and she wasn’t coping well. In fact, she hardly ever left her home.
So I decided to do something to let her know she was loved. I took a flowerpot full of beautiful flowers and put it on her porch. I knew she was too depressed to water it herself. So everyday for months I walked up the street with my watering can in hand and watered her flowerpot. And as I did, I prayed for her.
I knew I was going to have to be faithful in watering that flowerpot. Because if I wasn’t, and I let those flowers die, not only that widow, but the entire block would know it.
That is hesed love. No one forced me to do any of that. I freely chose to put the flowerpot on her porch and commit myself to water it. And you know what? It was a lot of fun. And it was an excellent testimony to the entire block.
So here’s my challenge to you. Find your own way to demonstrate hesed love to someone who needs it. But when you make your commitment to do whatever it is you’re going to do, just be sure to do it.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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2 thoughts on “Demonstrating Hesed Love with a Flowerpot”
I would love to hear “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say on the radio. Did the widow ever come out of her house to talk to you?
No, Vicki. She never did. In fact, she moved away without saying a word!