God's Love Through Us

In this month of Valentine’s Day love is in the air. But what is love really? Love is certainly something greatly longed for by human beings of all stations and statures, but what is it; how can we define it? Is love romance?

John and Mary strolled hand in hand along the beach at sunset. They felt as if the whole world belonged to them alone. As they stopped to enjoy the beautiful golden hues of the expansive sky, made doubly radiant reflecting off the water and moist sand of the beach, John gently placed his hand around Mary’s waist. She reciprocated by leaning in close to him, laying her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him...

It could be that love is obedience. Jesus did say...

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15).

Or perhaps it is sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

Okay, you get the idea. Love is a word with many and varied meanings. It is likely the most used and misused word in the English language. It may be employed to describe anything from an affinity for butter pecan ice cream, to intense romantic emotion, to sacrificing all for a noble cause. It is a subject with which mankind has been obsessed for centuries. So fixated on it are we that it is unquestionably the major theme of our literature and art.

Much of what the Bible teaches us about love concerns not how we may receive and possess love, but rather how and to whom we are to give our love. We are commanded to love God, our neighbors, our fellow believers, and even our enemies. (Read Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, John 13:34-35, Matthew 5:44-45)

We also learn that God himself is the creator and embodiment of love.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8). Wow – God IS love!

Through Jesus Christ, God demonstrated for us what love is to be.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10).

Through Him love may become manifest within us and emanate from us.

“...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us...” (1 John 4:16-17).

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:11-12).

Yes, love is something greatly longed for by human beings of all stations and statures. But ponder this truth: True love, as God intends it to be, may only be fully realized through His presence in our lives. In our Sunday services we have learned much from our pastors’ teaching on the topic “Love Made Visible.” May the love of God in Christ Jesus within us be made visible through us to others who desperately need to know true love – God’s love.

Andy Pruitt
WCC Senior Life Pastor