Texts: 2 Peter 3:9; Deuteronomy 7:6-9; Romans 11:22; 1 John 4:7-20; John 15:12; 1 John 3:16

“Nonhuman animals are amazing beings. Daily we’re learning more and more about their fascinating cognitive abilities, emotional capacities and moral lives,” remarks biologist, ethologist and behavioral ecologist Dr. Marc Bekoff.

Possible evidence of animals’ emotional and moral understandings surround us.

For example, when humpback whales detect that killer whales are attacking seals or other prey, humpbacks will travel long distances to interrupt and intimidate the killers until they stop.

Vampire bats require regular blood feasts to survive, but if some bats return unsuccessfully from a hunt, those that come back full will share their bounty to keep them alive.

When dolphins observed marine veterinarians vainly trying to guide harbor porpoises into an enclosure to treat them, the dolphins came alongside to steer the porpoises into the pens for their treatment. This eased the porpoises’ stress, made the veterinarians’ job easier, and ensured that the porpoises received their needed therapy. Later, when other sick porpoises came to their pool, the dolphins swam with the porpoises—encouraging them to swim and dive with them in synchronism, thus providing a form of physical therapy to help the porpoises recover.

A Puget Sound Orca mother known as Tahlequah, who made news in 2018 when she lost her calf and carried the baby’s body around for several weeks, is again expressing her grief by carrying around another deceased calf.

It’s tempting for us to refer to such behaviors as “altruism”—that the animals deliberately choose to sacrificially give of themselves to better the lives of others, and we may even assign them human-like emotions. Researchers prefer the term “empathy”—that they respond to perceived emotions in other creatures. Researchers do admit, however, that they don’t really know what that means in the animal kingdom, or if animals actually experience emotions.

Can animals genuinely love their offspring and other animals? Can pets truly love their humans? Do the animals who receive these loving overtures return that kindness? Or do animals merely respond to some self-preservation instinct that motivates them to act “lovingly”?

We even struggle to fully understand God’s love for us. While our one English word “love” covers the gamut of affectionate emotions, the Greeks used eight different words to define the wide range of loving emotions.

The two we find most often used in Scripture to portray God’s love for us—and our response to that love—are “agape” and “phileo.” Agape is often understood as self-sacrificial love that requires nothing in return. Phileo is simply defined as friendship, or brotherly love—love that’s reciprocated in kind. While it’s true that God agape-loved us before we responded (“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8), God longs for us to phileo-return that love (see John 16:27). Our God is a relational God who craves our loving companionship.

God understands that we humans often only comprehend relationships in transactional terms, so God offers us covenantal love. God does everything possible to develop a loving relationship with us. Our challenge is to determine the proper way to respond to God’s overtures, and then fully engage in our part of this covenantal love relationship.

For Reflection

Sharing: Deuteronomy 7:6-9 outlines God’s participation in our covenant contract of love. What is our appropriate response to God’s loving contribution?

1. We must obey God’s commandments to deserve God’s love
2. God’s love motivates us to obey God’s commandments
3. It’s good to try and obey God’s commandments, but God doesn’t abandon us when we fall
4. I don’t understand why God chose to love me, but I accept and appreciate God’s love
5. I respond to God’s love in my expressions of worship
6. Other:

Applying: Outline a simple contract that includes the basic elements of God’s covenant with us: “God will do…. Therefore, we will do….” Can you construct it in such a way that it will make sense to someone who knows nothing about the plan of salvation?

~ Chuck Burkeen

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