I love my family...my friends...lots of other people - people who are easy to love. But what about everyone else? Am I fulfilling God's vital mandate as a believer? How many people do I come in contact with that I don't show love to? How many opportunities have I missed? What is love, exactly? Because of course I can't always feel love. And yet it is possible to always love...my God would not have commanded me to do something that wasn't possible. So...love is not an emotion...not a feeling.
There is a saying made famous by a D.C. Talk song (showing my age here): "Love is a verb."
Love is an action. Not only an action...also, a reaction. Love is something I have to choose to do. In ways that are unique and meaningful to the recipient. Love...it's simply my active demonstration of God's feeling. Because God does love us all...deeply, emotionally...he feels for us. He uses us as an avenue through which his deep love emotion can travel to others in order that they might feel it. If I sit and think about it, I can think of many times that God has moved through someone else to demonstrate his love for me. And oh how it touches you when you are a recipient of Godly love! You feel special, chosen, cared for, protected. Godly love gives you strength when you are weak; it gives you joy amidst sorrow; it gives you safety in danger; it gives you hope in loneliness. It fills your soul up to overflowing. Godly loves's tears mingle with yours; it's hand squeezes yours tight when you need to hang on for dear life; it's comforting arms surround you and hold you up just in time to save you from a fatal fall. Godly love is vital...it is necessary...it's what we were made to receive and to give.
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Psalm 119:64 (NIV)
The earth is filled with your love, O Lord; teach me your decrees.
Romans 13:8-12 (NIV)
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Ok, I know these lyrics are a little different (they were rapped) but the truth is there, plain as can be.
Luv is a Verb
DC Talk
Pullin' out my big black book
Cause when I need a word defined that's where I look
So I move to the L's quick, fast, in a hurry
Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry
I looked again but to my dismay
It was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see, a big "V" stood beyond my word
And yo that's when it hit me,
that luv is a verb
(chorus 1)
Words come easy but don't mean much
When the words they're sayin' we can't put trust in
We're talkin' 'bout love in a different light
And if we all learn to love it would be just right
(chorus 2)
Hey, tell me haven't ya heard?
Luv, is a serious word
Hey, I think it's time ya learned
I don't care what they say
I don't care care what ya heard
The word luv, luv is a verb
Down with the dc Talk,
d- d- down with the dc Talk
Are you down with the dc Talk,
d- d- down with the dc Talk
Thinkin' of a way to explain-o
Cause ya' know when I'm flowin' like a bottle of Drain-o
Simple and plain, L-O-V-E
Ain't all that junk that ya see on TV
Put soaps on a rope cause they ain't worth copin' with
It's a myth that there ain't no hope
andLuv is enough if it's unconditionally
Givin' now you're living out the Great Commission
(repeat choruses 1 and 2)
Back in the day there was a man
Who stepped out of Heaven and he walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in His voice
Gave up His life so that we may live
How much more luv could the Son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin'
Cause luv is a word that requires some action
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