The last couple articles, we looked at relationships. In this article, as Valentines Day approaches, we will be looking at love.
Love can come in various forms. You can have brotherly love, the love a parent has for a child, relationship love, or even love for a pet. One type of love the Bible mentions is agape love.
You're probably wondering what in the world is this “agape love"? This is referenced to as a love of God and others in the faith.
I think the greatest display of love in all of history is found in Romans 5:8, which says, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (ESV)." What this verse tells us is that God demonstrates His love through Jesus.
Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that we are to love God and love our neighbors. Everyone we encounter in our daily lives are our neighbors.
Note that as I mentioned last week, bearing our brothers’ and sisters’ burdens is essential. We are to bear each other’s burdens. I have experienced this time and time again in my life.
One of the burdens that has been on my mind the past few months is the death of an international student I was close with. I mentioned with my small group how much it burdened me, because I did not know at the time whether he had been saved or not (I later found out he was a Christian). I had this feeling of failure because I felt like I didn’t do enough to show him God’s love.
I had to share that burden with my small groups. I knew that if I didn’t, the pain would consume me. In this experience, I learned that I had to lean on the people God has placed in my life to help me in those times.
Another time I’ve seen God’s love in action is in the days and weeks following the March 19, 2018 tornado that hit JSU and the surrounding area. The week following was the youth at my home church’s Spring Break, and several of them chose to sacrifice part of their Spring Break to volunteer and help with Samaritan’s Purse in the clean up process.
These youth didn’t know any of the people they helped, and may never know the impact they had on those folks. One of my favorite parts was having dinner at Huddle House with two guys who were in my small group at the time, Brandon Pisacrita and Austin Crim. They met us there, and they just poured into and encouraged each one of the youth that went. I left that trip feeling so encouraged.
To conclude, we are called to love everyone, whether we know them or not. As I said, the youth that came along with us to help after the tornado didn’t know anyone they helped, but they chose to help their neighbors here in Jacksonville and show people in this great place I’ve come to love the light of Jesus. Love is the whole point behind our mission here on earth.
Jesus taught us love. It is our mission to show others that love, and in doing so, shining the light of Christ to everyone around us.
