Love indeed
A Simple Message
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
– 1 John 3:18
To love thy God with all and to love thy neighbor as thyself, all of Biblical law and prophecy hang upon these two commandments.
Christ, in his own words, emphasizes the supreme importance of love in Christian faith. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians reiterates this sentiment by naming love as the most important of all Christian virtue.
John, the apostle whom Jesus loved, further tows the line in his first epistle by reminding us that our love must be true.
So what does it mean to love in truth?
Thankfully, the above passage provides the answer to the question it raises: to love in truth is to love in deed.
In the daily walk of Christian faith we can be inundated with the word and concept of “love” to the point that it becomes casual to us. So easily we can fall into the rhythmic habit of saying that we love God, that we love our neighbor, and even that we love ourselves; all without taking the time to consider what that actually means.
For our love to be true we must act upon it. For this reason we are told the love of money is the root of all evil.
For our true love inevitably dictates our choices and actions.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for us, we see God’s love is true because God’s actions were dictated by His love.
What of us?
We say we love our neighbor but do we forgive them as Christ forgives us? Do we help them when it requires a sacrifice of us? Do we remember to pray for them when we pray for ourselves?
True love is a love that motivates us into action. In a world where the news reminds us daily that those we trust to have our best interest at heart lie to us and callously disregard our needs; it becomes apparent that true love is sorely lacking.
When we determine in our hearts that we are going to treat people as best as we possibly can, as graciously as we possibly can, with as much kindness as we possibly can we are being motivated by love.
Motivated by a love that can make this world a better place to live in.
So, when the opportunity arises, I hope that we will remember that love indeed is love in deed.
