I have written about love more than any other topic because it is such an important part of our spiritual life and should be an important part of daily living. Despite the dictionary definition, love is not an object that can be owned, bought, sold or even given as a gift. It is a verb; an action to be taken or something that we do. I often refer to 1 Corinthians 13 as the perfect definition of love. It describes all of the actions of love (not doing something is also an action). But love cannot exist or act on its own; it requires a lover to put those actions into motion. In 1 John 3:18 we read, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” 1 Corinthians 16:14 reminds us to “do everything with love”.
Paula Thornton, my sister in Christ, recently posted a beautiful photo of her son feeding her mother in a nursing home. I commented, “That is what love looks like.” It reminded me of when Carol was in a nursing home or hospital. She could feed herself but she had trouble sleeping at night in a strange place. On my daily visits I spent hours holding her hand and watching TV while she slept soundly knowing I was there with her. That simple act told her “I love you” much louder than anything I could have said to her.
Just as love needs a lover to put it into action, it also needs someone to be the recipient of those actions. We might say that we “love” chocolate or ice cream (or chocolate ice cream), but the actions involved are very different than when the object of our love is a person. One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is 1 Timothy 6:10. “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” When we love things instead of people, those things become idols and the actions of that kind of love are a form of idol worship. We can enjoy something very much without loving it.
Enduring love is something I have experienced. Sam Levinson wrote, “Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.” Acts of love by each partner every day are the secret to that kind of “miracle”. They may not say, “I love you” as often as they used to, but love is understood and felt by both of them because of their actions. It is one of those many situations in life when actions speak much louder than words.
God’s unfailing love is manifest in His actions to us and for us. The ultimate act of love is when God sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins. (John 3:16) Our love for Him, though deep, pales in comparison. We often tell Him we love Him in our worship, but it is really in the actions of our daily life that He wants us to declare our love for him and for others. Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14-15) Love requires action. Lord, help us to demonstrate our love for you and for others in everything we do.