Skip to main content

Did I just say that?

 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

Have you ever been on a telephone call with someone and at the end of the conversation you find yourself proclaiming "Love ya" just before you hang up? That may not be all that bad if it is a family member, a close friend, or even a life-long close relationship - but when it is your boss, the IT guy fixing your computer tech issues, or the like . . . that is a little awkward! It is like you say it - totally unthinking - then your eyes pop open in horror at that very moment those words escape your mouth and you know you just slipped up royally. It isn't that you don't appreciate the meaning of the words - it might just be that they have become a little too 'rote' in your vocabulary.

When I say "I love you" to you, do the words mean all that much? Not likely - it is more the actions that demonstrate that love that make the most difference. Does that mean we can be cavalier with this phrase? Absolutely not! I really don't like the term 'falling in love' because we never just 'fall into' love - it is a condition of heart that is worked out in the trenches of living life together with someone. Jesus came to this earth to demonstrate perfect love - not just to tell us he loved us - but to 'demonstrate' that love. After all, isn't a demonstration worth a thousand words? If we are to be true followers of Christ, we are to demonstrate his love - not merely speak forth salutations and greetings proclaiming we love the world.

Let our love be sincere and intelligent. At first, those two may seem a little like they are at opposite ends of the pole, but they aren't really. Sincere suggests our heart's actions are free of hypocrisy - the words match the actions. Intelligent suggests we are quick to comprehend and understand - observing the needs of others and then knowing how to respond to those needs. Put those two ideas together and you have a pretty powerful 'love expression'! It is this type of 'love' that helps us be bountiful in our expressions of love - not in giving gifts, but in meeting needs of others in just the right way.

We may not really mean "I love you" every time we speak it, but I bet others can see the "I love you" whenever we demonstrate our love in our actions! Just sayin!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant.  In that day and time, a very taboo thing.  We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God.  Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated.  We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar.  The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish.  Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,