As I think back on the relationships in my life that have come and gone, whether intimate or innocent, caring or careless, filled with friendship or just plain foolishness, there are three words that uniquely defined a very small percentage of them. I can remember and call by name almost every person who’s ever spoken them to me. They may have crossed your mind as you read the title because they are, in fact, the most meaningful and powerful words ever spoken into your life as well. What are they?
I – LOVE – YOU
While some people have never received these words at all, others throw them around like they mean absolutely nothing. Love has become a synonym for the word “like.” Its sad, really. These words have the ability to change a person’s life in such a positive or negative way that they almost seem magical. Do you remember how you felt the first time a boyfriend or girlfriend ever told you they loved you? How about when that same person decided they no longer felt that way? Or maybe you can recall your parents using this phrase every time they tucked you in at night as a child. Perhaps your mother, father or both walked out on you at a young age and you were more familiar with love’s absence. The phrase is even commonly used for the sole purpose of taking advantage of people sexually and emotionally. In a very real sense, they’re like the key to a person’s heart. There are no greater highs nor lows life has to give than what can be brought about by such a common, yet misunderstood phrase. In these examples of the words “I love you” and many more, one thing is apparent to me despite how they have ever made me feel; love isn’t merely something spoken, but more importantly, something acted.
You knew your parents loved you by the way they treated you growing up. Your spouse knows you love them, not by how often you say it, but by how often you act in accordance. Sometimes people don’t even need to say the words for you to know they are true, that they actually love you. As someone who has attended and served in several churches in my lifetime and literally heard thousands of sermons, I cannot even name ten of them that I can look back and call life changing. But you better believe I can recall the ten most influential people in my life in the blink of an eye. Why is that? Because these people were there for me when life seemed impossible to deal with. They sacrificed their time, energy, emotions and even finances to see my life pointed in a certain direction. They invested heavily in my mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health in ways that others will never know about. “I love you” was more than a flattering comment, it was their commitment to my wellbeing. Without a doubt, these people loved me.
As a leader at my church, I often lead songs and recite Bible verses about the love I have for God trying to stir up people’s affections to feel the same way. I do it on such a regular basis that if I’m not very careful, I will begin to let my words override my actions. I’ll settle for speaking instead of stepping, preaching rather than pursuing and singing as opposed to serving.Those three powerful words then become absolutely meaningless. So what happens when this is the pattern our lives consist of?
Jesus puts it into perspective for us in Matthew 25:42-46.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Jesus is not saying that your love must be proven, but He is saying that your love will be evident. Your service and care for others is, in essence, your service and care for Jesus Christ himself! If we say we love Him, how can we not do as he commanded? How can we idly pass those who are hungry on the street or ignore our next door neighbor who has no one to care for them? How can we live with such an excess of wealth and resources and not look up from them to see who is going without? Is it even possible to call yourself a Christian if your life bears little fruit of God’s Spirit displayed in sacrificial love for others? The Bible is flooded with the idea that love can be seen. It’s inescapable. The Godly people who have helped shape the person I am today are, without a doubt, the most Christlike people I’ve ever known. In my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful than God being seen through the people’s lives He’s already changed. The question is, will you allow Him to be seen through you?
Please understand that I’m not trying to beat you up, but sometimes our lives need to be thoroughly examined by God’s Word. We will always fail at loving, no matter how hard we try. We just can’t bear the weight true love requires. I will always love my wife insufficiently, and it will surely show. I will never be able to treat my mom as she deserves in return for the way she’s loved and sacrificed for me. My motivation to visit my sick and imprisoned friends will never be what God would want. Sometimes it honestly makes me want to give up trying entirely. However, there is such great comfort in knowing Jesus can bear the weight I constantly fail to uphold.
Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrated his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” What a statement! To think that God would send his beloved Son into the world to die for us, hopeless individuals, in order to raise Him from the dead as a demonstration of his grace, justice and power is simply overwhelming. There is no greater demonstration of love in all the earth. God tells us that if we turn from our sin and turn back to Him in repentance, he will give us everlasting life with Him. He not only spoke the words of love, but acted in our place, living the life we could never live so that He could die the death we deserved.
If the words “I love you” can carry such weight in our world today by people we often could not care less about, imagine living life knowing you’re loved and accepted by the God of the universe! I think that’s a love worthy of a response. Don’t you?
