Love: An Action Word

Love: An Action Word

 

"For this is the message you have heard from the beginning:  You should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his own actions were evil and his brother's righteous.  Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.  Anyone who does not love remains in death.  Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.  This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.""  I John 3:11-18

 

I love you.  These are the words we tell our 3rd grade boyfriend or girlfriend.  I love you... we tell this to our kitten, our gerbil and our pet rock.  I love you.  I occasionally speak these words to chocolate...

Saying "I love you" is easy.  Sometimes it is even cheap.  It is something we say to keep us from having to actually do love.  Saying I love you is a start, but it is by no means an endpoint. How do we show love?  By forgiving someone who has wronged us.  By blessing our enemies.  By  giving money to the homeless  person.  Handing a jacket to a street person.  Buying a Bible so a Gideon can hand it to a school kid.  Showing love is wiping a snotty nose in children's church and surviving a youth sleep over.  Love is shown when we listen, really listen.  Love is shown when we invest time and attention.   Love is shown when we sacrifice the money we have set aside to buy a gun or designer handbag and instead, sponsor a child to go to youth camp.

These are all ways we can express our love to others.  But these are also ways that we can express God's love to others.  When you throw down a $20 tip, you can leave a little note that reads "God loves you."  Sometimes people cannot believe that a holy, invisible God can love them, until they experience an in-the-flesh human loving to them. 

We are called to be God's hands  extended  in this world.  We are to be the feet and mouth of Jesus to a lost and hurting  world.  As Christians, we must strive to show love, give love and do love.  We must pair our words with some verbs.  We have to put some actions behind the expression.

Dear Lord, help me to show your love to others.  Help me to know the right way to express your love.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri