Little children, let us not love in word or talk
but in deed and in truth”. 1 John 3:18
“Love is . . . . “ When I was a kid, “Love is . . .” was the name of a popular cartoon featured in our newspaper. It pictured a child-like couple who, each week, demonstrated something new about what “love is” by their actions toward one another. It was sappy and never very deep, yet it was an attempt to show that love is more than just words. It is found in the actions we take for others. So despite the shallowness, I learned an important lesson from that cartoon. I learned that love needs to be shown in the things we do. Isn’t that what John is saying in 1 John 3:18? Love, far from being found mainly in our feelings or emotions, is demonstrated by our Christ-like actions toward others.
As I’ve thought about that over the years – this being Father’s Day – I’m reminded that this is the love I was privileged to see in my dad growing up. By God’s common grace, even before he came to a renewed faith in Christ, my dad gave daily evidence of his deep love for me and my family. He was there every day. He was active in our lives. He gave himself to us regularly and sacrificially for our good. And isn’t that what love is? Love is . . . powerful and active! It gets personally involved with sacrificial actions for the good of the those who are loved! “Love is…” (To paraphrase 1 Cor 13) “kind in it’s actions, not arrogant toward others, not self-focused nor easily provoked to anger. It rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails to demonstrate it’s presence in it’s actions.”
My prayer is that God’s good Spirit will equip us to demonstrate this kind of active love for one another in the church and in our families, so that one day when our kids hear the phrase “love is..,” they will immediately think of us!
We love with our actions, because He loved us with His!
Pastor Scott Lee