So what is love? Some say it is a feeling, an emotion that comes and goes. The reason is because our feeling and emotions change all the time.
As believers in Christ, most of us are taught that love isn't just a feeling, but an action. DC Talk said in one of their songs that Love is a Verb. We know from the bible that God is Love. The bible says in John 3:16 that "For God so LOVED the world that He SENT His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." That means God's love was an action. We see that when we read the word sent in this verse. He did something to show His love.
We went to the movies to see Fireproof. Great movie, by the way. In it the father tells his son (Kirk Cameron) that he can't love his wife until He knows what love is. In the scene, Kirk Cameron is looking at a cross.
The greatest act of love is laying your life down for someone, just as Christ laid down His life for us. You see He took the penalty for our sins upon Himself. The penalty for sin was a blood sacrifice. Jesus was our blood sacrifice.
Ok, so now we know what love is by the biblical standards. It is an action, a choice. Recently, a series of events lead me to really think about love and what it means. I was told by someone I've known for a long time that they didn't like me. It was a sock to hear from this person that they didn't think our personalities went together. When questioned about it, they said that they loved me because I was a Sister in Christ and that we had a good relationship because we have never had a cross word. That is how they gauged a good relationship, by never having a cross word. So what had this person done to love me as a sister in Christ, even though they didn't like me? The answer, I don't know. I can't remember a thing that this person did to show love to me. This got me to thinking about a book I had read called Sacred Love. One of the statements in the book stuck out to me and I have never forgotten it. "The opposite of Love isn't hate, it's apathy." Apathy means doing nothing.
If love is a verb, which we have established it is, than apathy (doing nothing), is the opposite.
Matthew 25:40 “The King (Jesus) will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:45 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Hearing someone doesn't like you is never an easy thing to hear, but God is using it to remind me that He didn't just say He loved me. He demonstrated it. This is the example I should follow. Loving someone is more than just saying so, it is an action.
Let us remember that what we do speaks louder than what we say. So what have you done to show love for others?
