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Well, it’s not quite February and I’ve already
begun to see the advertisements for Valentine’s Day special dinners and
sales on flowers, and I’m sure that I saw Valentine candy in the stores
the day after Christmas! Oh my! Love is big business, I guess! But
what does any of that have to do with love? I’ve been thinking about
that and doing some reading about love from a biblical perspective and
thought I would share some food (not candy!) for thought.
The word “Love” is a noun that means 1. a strong affection for another,
2. a warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion., 3. an unselfish loyal
and benevolent concern for the good of another. Biblically, it refers
to the passion of God for human beings, and on a personal faith level it
refers to your obedience to God’s commandments toward others.
Love is one of the greatest themes of Christianity. Christians are told
that God is love (1 John 4:8), that love is why Jesus went to the cross,
and that believers are supposed to love their neighbors as themselves.
In fact, that we are supposed to love so much that we are willing to lay
down our lives for one another. The problem is that people hear this
call to love as a call to feel certain things. But, love as the Bible
presents it, isn’t a feeling. Biblical love is a commitment to a course
of action that may result in feelings, but it isn’t dependent on those
feelings. The kind of love that God calls his people to live out isn’t
a matter of feeling a certain way toward others…it’s a matter of
treating people as God commands. God never says that we have to feel
love for everyone…but God does teach that His love flows through our
biblical actions towards others. Feelings change, they aren’t stable,
but our actions can remain constant as they are guided by scripture. We
can act with forgiveness, encouragement, and generosity regardless of
our feelings. Feelings may come, but they often follow actions. You
can become forgiving by forgiving…you become loving by doing loving
things…you can become patient by acting patiently. Love is the same
way…action first, feeling second.
The bottom line is this…You can’t produce feelings. You can produce
action that is obedient with the love of God. So the challenge is to
treat people in your life according to what God teaches regardless of
your feelings. That’s the kind of love that Jesus taught and showed
throughout his life. You won’t find that kind of love in any valentine
card, or heart shaped pizza!
To close, I wanted to share some quotes, scriptures and other “facts” I
discovered about love…
“Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been
perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” (1 John 2:5)
“Where love is, there is God also.” Leo Tolstoy
“We know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy
Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (Romans 5:5)
And last, the thought provoking results of a recent poll …“A poll of
people who refused to attend church regularly revealed that those
surveyed had tried church but had a common complaint: They found no
love in the churches they visited.” May that never be true of Wayne UMC.
Blessings,
Rev. Betty
Wineland |
