Today I hope to remind you to love fervently, and then also to say those words “I love you”, often, to those who are special to you. You never know how long you’ll have together with the ones who matter so much in your life. Those tender words, and your loving care can make all the difference in the lives of others. Song of Solomon 8:6-7 says, “Love is as strong as death” and “many waters cannot quench love”. Love is a powerful force! Have you ever seen those bumper stickers that say, I love my wife, my kids, or my grand kids? Maybe you’ve even seen I love my cat or dog. We each display our love for someone, or something in various ways. Where we spend our time, attention and resources is evidence of what we care about. We’ve each probably said such things as I love baseball, or shopping, travel, art, music, nature, exercise, reading, coffee, sweets…The list can go on and on, due to our diversity. There are also varying measures of love. There is a little love, and there is great depth of love. In our Bibles, the word “love” in English, is defined more specifically with four types of love in the original Greek of the New Testament. Phileo love is brotherly love; a friendship type of love, as in, Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Eros love is romantic love, as in an erotic, sensuous love. Storge love is the natural instinctual affection that parents have for their children. And finally there is Agape love; also called Charity, which is God’s kind of love. Agape love surpasses all other types of love in it’s purity, mercy, selflessness, and faithfulness.
We all have the need to love and be loved. It is our deepest longing, and our greatest fulfillment. I do believe it is one of the ways that God has created us in His image. I am convinced that He desires to be loved by you and I, with our free-will, with gladness, and with sincere heart, fervently and faithfully; as He does us. I believe God wants us to share love, and companionship eternally together with Him, even here and now; as best as we can in this present life. Consider this, we have the capacity to receive and understand how satisfying it is to be loved by someone. Therefore, we can learn also, to properly love Him. I wish all children could begin to learn this beautiful virtue from their parents, as they are nurtured, and taught, and trained up in how to care for one another as a family. I first learned love from my mom and dad. Our greatest teacher in how to show love through our words and actions towards another person is God Himself. I John 3:16 tells us, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us”. And, John 15:12-13, “This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” There’s that great depth of love I mentioned. When Jesus made that ultimate personal sacrifice due to His great love for lost mankind, it proved His true love for you and I! Yes, love is a verb; an action word. Love compels us to do something. It is much more than mere emotion, that can wain or change. It is more than just words. I have come to realize that real love, or God’s kind of love is a commitment; a promise. Much like the wedding vows promised between a groom and a bride; a marriage covenant. We may not always have feelings of desire or happiness towards our spouse, but because we have promised one another, we should hold fast our commitment to our beloved other half, to remain one, to abide united in marriage as we continue to love even when it doesn’t feel warm and fuzzy. We hold steadfast to that love through thick and thin until it overcomes whatever trials or tests we go through. Remember, God has done the same for each of us who have promised to believe on, and receive Him as Savior. Yes, we disappoint Him so often, but His love for us is true. He abides faithful to the covenant! His promise is of never ending love. He cannot lie! He has clearly shown His love by His actions! He gave us an example, to reply in like manner back to Him, and to also love the people around us.
Jesus said, “The first of all the commandments is…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) Jesus also taught in Matthew 5:43-45, “…I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven…” It will take a God kind of love to do this! What an amazing, deep and beautiful love He has, to love us even when we were enemies due to our sinful condition. (Romans 5:8) We must allow this God-love to pour through us, to be lived out, and proven; through kind words and actions for our fellow man. I Corinthians 13 paraphrased, “…Charity suffers long from another, yet is still kind towards them; charity does not envy another, charity does not force it’s will on another, charity is not puffed up with pride above another, charity does not behave improperly towards another, does not seek it’s own selfish interests, is not easily provoked, and thinks no evil towards another. Charity does not rejoice in wrong, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails…And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Love God. Love others.
George Randall Jr. is the minister to youth at Rocky Ford Christian Church in Cana, Virginia.
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Love is a verb - Mount Airy News
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