What is Love?
Hello all!
A more bitter time of winter I cannot recall. Here in Maryland, we have nothing in snow compared to places like Boston, but we have some seriously low temperatures! I hope you are warm and safe wherever you are.
So, this past weekend, we observed Valentine’s Day. (I have not actually done the research to find out how a day to remember a martyr has turned into a time to celebrate love, but that’s okay – I’ll run with it.) Valentine’s Day is not always a pleasant day. Sometimes folks have lost love, sometimes, they have not yet found it. It can be a difficult time for many as the shelves in the stores turn red and pink and white with the colors of happy “this” and be mine “that.” Sometimes, it is a very pleasant day, with the exchange of gifts and cards and sweets. Either way, here’s a question: is love to be described by the way we observe this day, this one day, out of all the rest in the year?
My mother used to say that she didn’t want anything special for Mother’s Day because she’d rather be remembered all year long than on one day out of the year. I think there is some wisdom in this. Brotherly love, sisterly love, romantic love – doesn’t matter – these relationships are cultivated by behavior which is much more constant than once a year. As a matter of fact, those people to whom we speak only once a year are generally not those closest to us.
Scripture has PLENTY to say about love. Over the history of the Bible, love is demonstrated in a variety of forms: God’s love for us, love for one another, even romantic love. One such place can be found in 1 John, Chapter 3 (NIV):
16 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 and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Many years ago now, I heard the Rev. Dr. Tony Evans give a sermon about love and one of the concepts has stuck with me all these years later: love is a VERB. Love is not something you fall into or out of, but something that you do. Taking that idea a little further, it is written that God is love. Therefore, if we are to be like God, we are to be love.
And what is our definition of love? Right there in Verse 16. One of the most precious things we have is life – both the physical life we have and the status and objects that we have within the physical. To give these things up for someone else? That is love.
On a last note, I beg you to keep in mind those who are facing the ultimate sacrifice – the giving of life – because of their love for our Lord. Please pray for peace for those individuals and their families. And, of course, that the persecution might come to an end as the Kingdom of God fully arrives on earth.
Remember that you are truly loved by our Lord and Savior - who gave His life for YOU. Happy Valentine's Day / Week :-)
Jess
