I’m actually having a hard time wrapping myself around this one. While some of my other words have seemed small at first glance, this one is a doozie, in its own right! I mean, who am I to presume to write about this one?! And what on earth can I say that hasn’t been said 10,000 times? Maybe just seeing several different things about love, in one place, will do us all some good! And so…I will!
First of all, it’s over-used! “I love you”…and pizza and popsicles and ice skating and gymnastics and sleeping during a gentle rain and peace at home and world peace…you get the picture! (Can you tell I’m a mom?) In our society, it has become hollow and shallow and lost some of its depth, along the way. Not love, itself, mind you…just the word!
Here are the other things I’ve been thinking about this “little” word. It often has an emotional component…we “feel” love…holding hands with our spouse or child, gazing into the eyes of a baby, bandaging a skinned knee, giving a gift to someone. That’s good, but we don’t always “feel” loving! When our kid smacks their sister for the 15th time, or our spouse annoys us, or a friend betrays us…or has bad breath (can’t we really be that petty?), or our kid rolls their eyes at us AGAIN, or a co-worker throw us under the proverbial bus for their own benefit, do we feel like loving them? Heck no! So, then what?
Then…this is the next level, another thought I’ve had. Love is a VERB…an action! Did you notice, in the list above, that all of the examples in which we feel love involved doing something loving? Doing love leads to more feelings of love…which leads to more doing love…which leads on and on! It’s a beautiful cycle! God tells us that we don’t have to feel it to do it in the first place…but we do still have to do it!
Love, like the other words I’ve been unwrapping, is intentional! It is a decision that we have to make, sometimes many, many times in a single day or with several people in a day! It’s sometimes not a natural reaction! Sometimes our flesh wants to be…well…flesh(ly) and selfish! (Isn’t it interesting that only 2 letters, and the order of the letters, separate these 2 words…flesh and selfish…from each other? I’d never noticed that until I just typed it, but it’s definitely noteworthy.)
So, what does God’s Word say about love? Love is a fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22-23. However, Romans 8:4-9 tells us that we won’t bear the fruit of the Spirit unless we allow the Spirit of God to control our minds!
How does God help us love? Well, we love because He first loved us, 1 John 4:19. We are loved with an everlasting love, Jeremiah 31:3. He commands us to love others in the same way that He has loved us, John 15:12. Luke 10:27 says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…and to love your neighbor as yourself.
How do we do that? It’s simple…but not easy! We have to get rid of anger, bitterness, malice, slander, fits of rage, and dirty language, Colossians 3:3. We are told to do everything in love, 1 Corinthians 16:14. Because we are chosen, we are to clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Colossians 3:12), and several of these are also fruit of the spirit. Colossians 3:14 says that Above all, we are to clothe ourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony!
When we put on love, we are clothing ourselves with Jesus, because God IS love, and we are made in His image! I tend to think verbs these last several weeks, so when I think about love, I think about verbs that show love (giving, encouraging, comforting, blessing, smiling, hugging, forgiving, etc.) and even in the typing of this, it is occurring to me to be more intentional about these verbs, to thus be more loving!
According to “the love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, when we choose to live a loving life, we will be patient, kind, enduring, faithful, hopeful, and unconditional. By default, those who are loving will not be jealous, boastful, proud, rude, demanding, irritable, selfish, or record-keepers of wrongs.
1 Peter 4:8 offers another “above all” about love! Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. I love this picture! Above, we read the “above all” verse about clothing ourselves with love. Think about putting on an outer garment. Have you ever tossed on a clean jacket or sweater over a dirty shirt to look respectable to run to town? The clean of the jacket covered the dirty of the shirt, but the dirt was still underneath. Love is the same way! When we choose to wear it, we choose to allow God to cover us and our unrighteousness, and in turn allows us to love others through their dirtiness. In time, when we repeatedly choose to put on love at all times, with all people, God is able to erase some of the dirt and mold us to be more and more like Him!
Jesus, please help us, today, to be loving. Help us to love others as you love us. Help us to clothe ourselves with love and mercy and selflessness, daily! Help us to be mindful of what our love is…and what it isn’t…and what you want it to be…and allow us to allow you to transform our hearts and lives into your image! Help us to do love even when we don’t feel love! Help us to put away all thoughts, attitudes, words, and feelings that hinder our love for you and for others. Help us to give ourselves daily toward being more loving to everyone around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
1 Corinthians 13:13…Three things will last forever…faith, hope, and love…and the greatest of these is love.