I love you. The three words everyone needs to hear. For some it is a hard phrase to get out, for others it flows naturally. On one hand some say it too often without much meaning, on the other there are those who have a hard time saying it at all. Whether we say it or not (and we should say it), it is more important that we show it. Too often we are quick to say ”I love you”, but slow to show it. The Bible reminds us that true love requires action.
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.- 1 John 3:17-18
For too many people love is nothing more than emotion. Love is so much more than an emotion. If love was an emotion it would be based solely on how one feels. I think this is why we see so many broken relationships in our society today. There is a total misunderstanding of what love really is. We have become a people who fall in and out of love. Since 1970 the divorce rate in the United States has tripled. Along with a high divorce rate the suicide rate among teens has tripled during the same time frame. Prescriptions for drugs to battle depression rises each year. We are becoming a society of people who are lonely and depressed that turn to medication because we have no one to talk to.
We have gotten things backwards. We wait for an emotion then we take the lead from our feelings and we try to show individuals love. Love is a motion not an emotion. Love is what we do. The idea is to love others and the emotions will follow. C.S. Lewis wrote in his book “Mere Christianity” that if we will act is if we love someone the feelings will follow.
“Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this , we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more.”- C.S. Lewis
What Lewis says makes a lot of sense when you consider Jesus saying we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. You see, when you begin to love your enemy you will cease to view them as an enemy. The idea of repaying evil with good is how God begins to work in the life of those who are in need of his love. This is exactly what Jesus did for us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.- Romans 5:6-8
Let that sink in for a minute. Christ died for the ungodly, the unworthy, those who have turned their backs on him. He basically died for his enemies. Why? Because he loved us. Paul called this act a demonstration of his love. God did not just say “I love you”, he showed us by stepping into our world and making the supreme sacrifice so we could really experience true love. God’s love is and will always be about action.
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.- 1 John 3:16
Jesus set the example of how we are to love. True love is selfless. It is not about having common interest with people, which leads to a relationship of give and take. On the contrary, agape love is about taking an interest ’in’ people, which leads to a relationship of sacrifice. It means we will love irregardless of how we feel or what benefits we might receive.
Think about those in your life. Have you told them you love them lately? If not, you should. Now for the tough question. Do you show them that you love them? Lastly, and the most important question of all; do they know you love them? Without action our words are empty and meaningless. Knowing your loved can make all the difference.
