LOVE IN ACTION

We live in a community that is increasingly becoming selfish. The self has become a god and people will do everything to satisfy the self. We are getting houses for ourselves , land for ourselves sometimes stepping on others to get them. This has robbed love the attention needed . Love has also been directed to serve self. We love others to satisfy self. Even if it is not said, actions will tell it all. They say actions speak louder than words.Lets have a look at what the bible says about this.

Leveticus 19:9-10

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.(NIV).

The isralites were to leave some of their farm produce for the sake of the poor. This shows that God is concerned about the less fortunate in the community. And in this case it was material help that was offered. One thing that we can be sure is that we will always have the less fortnate in our midst. Ignoring them makes us selfish and not caring for their needs. 

1 John 3:16-18New International Version (NIV)

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. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

 At a point in His life, Jesus had to lay His life for our sake. He gave out everything he owned even life for our sake.

1 John 3:16-18 New International Version (NIV)

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. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

 Jesus gave it all at the cross. The life he breathed he laid it down. Then we are told for us to love we have to lay our lives for others. The Bible even shows us how to do it. This is where love become hard , laying our lives for others. Sharing with others what we have. Caring for those who cant repay you.

Finally

We cannot give what we don’t have. If we have not experienced love , its hard to know how to love. God showers us with his love.

Ephesian 3:16-19

⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Paul prayed that the ephesians would experience God in depth , width , height  and leght. That during the best moments of their lives, the worst moments of their lives they would experience His love. When they are stretched by life or compressed by the happenings, during those moments they would experience his love. Only then would they be able to share the love to the rich, to the poor, to the happy , to the distressed.

My challenge is that each one of us would get to experience that love and then share it. In a world that love has been  translated to self , may we translate it to selflessness. That it shall be more than words. We shall share with the poor. We  shall share our Joy.