It's that time of year again when men are scrambling till
the last minute to get gifts for their beloved, women are waiting for their
beloved to prove his love (possibly by putting a ring on it), and children are
looking forward to the candy shock they'll get from all their Valentine's.
Whether you think that this holiday is just for the chocolate, flower, and card
companies to earn more money or you actually enjoy the holiday many of us can
agree that this holiday is about love. Do we actually know what love is?
I've said it before and I'll say it again it is hard to define love. We use that word so much for many different things, like fries and our family. And, God tells us to love him and love others. Obviously this kind of love is different from loving fries (btw I recommend fries with a frosty [ice cream], if you try it I'm sure it'll change your world). How can we show love to people who are mean to us, falsely accuse us, steal from us, and sometimes even worse?
For all practical purposes we cannot show that kind of love until we ask Christ for help and know that love, in this context, means showing respect.
There's a song by For King and Country called The Proof of Your Love. How do we know that we are showing God's love to others? This song gives us some answers. The song says: "If I sing but don't have love I waste my breath with every song." Now, this is written by a singer. He is singing about God's love. He's seen in the public eye and known as a Christian. If he doesn't show God's love he's called a hypocrite. As Christians we sing about God's love and loving others a lot. Do we actually believe and do what those songs say?
The chorus of the song says: "So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love let my love look like You and what You're made of how you lived, how you died love is sacrifice." We call ourselves Christians. That means followers of Christ. If we follow Christ that means we are to try to emulate him. That means we are to be the proof of God's love to others. Yet, we have Christians who don't help others, don't give money to the ones who need it most, and who think that they are better than everyone else! If Jesus had that same mentality we would be in big trouble because we'd be dead. Once we die, we'd go to hell.
But, Jesus knew the true meaning of sacrifice. He gave others his time, he taught others about God's love, and he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Talk about proving that you love someone. He died to save us, there's no greater love than that.
It's time that we start showing others God's love. If we don't show God's love to others then what is the point of saying we are Christian? There is no point if we don't love! The reason we are called hypocrites most of the time is because we sin and don't show love. It's time for our lives to prove God's love as we are called to do.
So, do you know what love means? Are you showing God's love to others by sacrificing of yourself?
I've said it before and I'll say it again it is hard to define love. We use that word so much for many different things, like fries and our family. And, God tells us to love him and love others. Obviously this kind of love is different from loving fries (btw I recommend fries with a frosty [ice cream], if you try it I'm sure it'll change your world). How can we show love to people who are mean to us, falsely accuse us, steal from us, and sometimes even worse?
For all practical purposes we cannot show that kind of love until we ask Christ for help and know that love, in this context, means showing respect.
There's a song by For King and Country called The Proof of Your Love. How do we know that we are showing God's love to others? This song gives us some answers. The song says: "If I sing but don't have love I waste my breath with every song." Now, this is written by a singer. He is singing about God's love. He's seen in the public eye and known as a Christian. If he doesn't show God's love he's called a hypocrite. As Christians we sing about God's love and loving others a lot. Do we actually believe and do what those songs say?
The chorus of the song says: "So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love let my love look like You and what You're made of how you lived, how you died love is sacrifice." We call ourselves Christians. That means followers of Christ. If we follow Christ that means we are to try to emulate him. That means we are to be the proof of God's love to others. Yet, we have Christians who don't help others, don't give money to the ones who need it most, and who think that they are better than everyone else! If Jesus had that same mentality we would be in big trouble because we'd be dead. Once we die, we'd go to hell.
But, Jesus knew the true meaning of sacrifice. He gave others his time, he taught others about God's love, and he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Talk about proving that you love someone. He died to save us, there's no greater love than that.
It's time that we start showing others God's love. If we don't show God's love to others then what is the point of saying we are Christian? There is no point if we don't love! The reason we are called hypocrites most of the time is because we sin and don't show love. It's time for our lives to prove God's love as we are called to do.
So, do you know what love means? Are you showing God's love to others by sacrificing of yourself?
John 13:34-35, John 15:13, John 3:16
Image from here.
I always define love by 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Living that out is a constant challenge.
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