Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1John 3:18

It’s all well and good for us to talk about love, after all everybody feels better when the conversation is over. Please forgive me if I’m too blunt here but, talk can be a bit too cheap: Love, real true Godly love, requires action.

To be completely clear, I’m not talking about romance.

The example John used in this passage is found in verse 16:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

It’s unlikely we’ll be called upon to die on a cross or anything like that, but if our brother or sister is hurting in some way, we should set our own wants aside and give them a hand, don’t you think? If someone is hungry, we give them food, if they are hurting emotionally, we stand beside them, if they need a shoulder to lean on we stand fast with them, and if they need a hand to pull them up, we pull them up.

In short, we put their interests and needs ahead of our own: That is Godly love.

Remember, Jesus didn’t go to the cross because He wanted to get His name in the news, He did it so that we might have life eternal; I’m sure He could have found something more pleasant to do that day, but no, He put us first instead.

I wonder: How can I put love into action today- how can I let His love in me work in someone else’s life today?