Month: August 2024

I’ve written about love more than any other topic because God’s unfailing love and our love for Him and others are an essential part of our Christian life. This is a short version of Love Is a Verb posted in March of 2017. I’m not getting lazy, the Holy Spirit just told me someone needs this important message today.

The greatest definition of love is found in the 13th chapter of First Corinthians. It lists all the actions of love (not doing something is also an action). 1st John 3:18 says, “Dear children, let us not just say we love each other, but let us show our love by our actions.”

I want to give two examples of love in action. Paula, my sister in Christ, posted a beautiful photo of her son feeding her mother in a nursing home. I commented, “That is what love looks like.”  When my wife was in a hospital or nursing home, she could feed herself but she had trouble sleeping in a strange place. I spent most of my visits holding her hand and watching TV while she slept soundly just knowing I was with her. That action said I love you louder than my voice ever could.

Living life as a Christian, our actions and our words must reflect the teachings and example of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as a testimony of our personal relationship with God through Christ. I have learned over the years that when we act or speak, is also very important.

I have mentioned before that I pray before commenting on a social media post I have a problem with. I discovered a few days ago why it is always a wise thing to do. A friend from the pest control industry, who professes to be a Christian,  posted a strong attack against Christians who found the painting at the opening ceremony of the Olympics offensive. A mutual Christian friend of ours simply commented that she couldn’t support it and he attacked her. Without praying, I simply replied to her that I couldn’t support it either and he came after me. I reacted with my long history as a believer and the knowledge of Greek mythology I picked up during my 18 months on Crete. He replied that he felt I was gaslighting him with my profession of faith.

I ended the discussion with this, “You and I obviously move in different   Christian circles. I have close ties to two large churches and I’ve not seen the outrage you describe in any of my brothers and sisters in Christ or my own experience. I’m sorry if my experience made you feel I was gaslighting you, whatever that means.” He and I are still friends, but that confrontation could have been avoided if I had prayed first.