I don’t remember very much about my life as a young child. I do have some recollection of things, but not very much; and what I can remember seems to be mostly “feelings” or kind of like snap-shots. I don’t remember conversations from then at all. Of course, that still happens.
But even though there are a lot of things that I can’t remember from my early childhood, it seems that there is one, I guess you’d call, “theme” of memories that stands out.
Whenever something would happen that would make me feel uneasy; whenever something would happen to make me feel emotionally uncomfortable; whenever something would happen to cause me to feel afraid, I always ran to my mother’s arms. I knew she’d comfort me; I knew she’d protect me; I knew she’d love me. And it helped me to feel safe.
Can you think back to when you were at that age? Do you recall similar experiences? Maybe it wasn’t your mother. Maybe it was your father, or your brother, or your sister, or aunt, or uncle, or grandparent, or just anybody that you knew you could go to and be comforted and feel loved.
I can’t speak for everyone, but as for me, I still need the same thing as I did then: someone I know I can go to for comfort and love. You see, to me that’s very important. It seems like the more people I know love me, the more I thrive. Think about yourself. Aren’t you the same way?
Now let’s turn things around just a bit. Let’s still consider the need for love, but now instead of us receiving it, we’re the ones who are giving it.
Married couples, what kind of a marriage would you have if your spouse didn’t need your comfort and love? What if, to him or her, the fact that you love them was unimportant?
Those of us who might be dating, isn’t your need to have your love accepted a high priority in your relationship?
Parents, how would you feel if you realized that your children had no need of you whatsoever other than to take care of their physical wants and needs?
In the early seventies, a group called The Doobie Brothers came out with a song called “Long Train Runnin”. I’m sure that some of us are familiar with it. For those that aren’t, I want to tell you about it. Don’t worry. I’m not going to quote you a lot of song lyrics; only one line, and, in my opinion, the most profound line of any non-spiritual song ever written. It was written in the form of a question, and that line is this: “Without love, where would you be now?”
Have you ever thought about that? What would my life be like if there was no love in it? No love to get. No love to give. I can’t even imagine!
How blessed we are to have the Creator of the universe, the God of love, to help us learn to not only receive, but to freely give love, as He gives freely to us. Remember: John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
In fact, God’s love for us is immeasurable and is expressed in so many ways. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: Eph 2:4-8 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
“The gift of God”. But, what is this gift? In the context of what we just read, it’s grace. But digging even deeper into the question of this gift, we can ask: from where does it originate? If we go back and look at verse four, we see that it comes through the love of God for us. And if we can testify and truly believe that God has so much love for us, people who don’t deserve His grace through His love, how can we, who have made a covenant with God to do His will and do His work and be His representatives on this earth, withhold our love, the love that was given to us and commanded for us to share by our Savior Himself?
How can we, who claim to be the disciples of Christ, ignore or dismiss the very essence of His message: love?
It seems to me that in the world, there are too many who’ve taken the Golden Rule, which is based on Christian concepts, and made the adjustments to it to reflect, not Godly concepts, but worldly concepts. How many of us here this morning know the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? (Luke 6:31) How many of us have heard the worldly version: “Do unto others before they do unto you”? How did we get so cynical? How did this happen? This way of thinking seems to be pretty prevalent in the world today. But we’re not to be of this world! Even so, it also seems that this very same attitude is infiltrating the holy church that was first established on Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the true Son of God; The true son of the God of Love.
Have you ever noticed that the same problems keep recurring? As far back in the Bible as we want to go, we keep running into the same story. God extends His love to us and we just keep throwing it right back into His face. As far back as Adam and Eve, God’s desire was to extend His love, and we just keep on living our selfish lives in this selfish world. What patience God must have! What forbearance! What grace He must possess! For the Almighty God to love us to an extent that’s beyond the human mind to even fathom---is incredible in itself.
Listen to what the apostle John wrote in his first epistle, chapter 3, verses 16-23: 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. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
How, we should ask, do the inspired words of God tell us what love is? And what do we do to show this love?
John begins by telling us that Jesus laid down His life for us, and not out of duty alone, but out of love.
He also goes on to say that we don’t express love merely by what we say, but more by what we do. So to say that we love and not show it...is that really love at all?
If I say to Sheree, “I love you”, and have no concern for her feelings, her happiness, and her needs; if I say to her, “I love you”, and do nothing to back that statement up, how much do you suppose I truly love her?
You see, love can be either a noun or a verb. It’s either something we have or an act of doing something. I can have love for something or somebody, but if I don’t do something with that love, what good is it?
Is there anyone here that has an automobile? Automobiles are nice to have. I have an automobile. If I have to take a trip somewhere, I’ll just hop in my car and take off. It might take me 15 minutes. It might take me three hours. Either way, when I have an automobile and I use it, it makes things a lot better because without it, instead of minutes or hours to get somewhere, it’d take me hours or days.
Has anyone here that owns an automobile ever had it to not work? You go out to take off to the store or the doctor’s office or wherever it is you go. You open the door, slide in, fasten your seat belt, and turn the key. The engine turns over...nothin’. You turn the key again. Again the engine turns over...nothin’. You keep turning the key trying to get the thing to start. You turn the key and pump the gas. You pump the gas and turn the key. And you keep alternating these cycles until the only sound you hear when you turn the key is...click-click.
Now you still own an automobile. You still have it. You’re sitting in it. But regardless of all your attempts, it’s not doing anything.
Let me ask you: at that moment when you’re sitting there in your car that’s doing nothing, your arms folded on the steering wheel and your forehead resting on them. In that moment of complete and total surrender to circumstance, really, is the mere fact that you own a car doing you any good?
You see, just having a car does nothing unless it’s capable of being driven. In other words, having it without using it has no advantages, whatsoever!
The same can be said about love. What advantage is there in having love if we don’t put it to good use? As Thomas Van Kempen, the author of The Imitator of Christ wrote, “Whoever loves much, does much.”
Well, ok. So I’m supposed to show my love to who I love, not just tell them. Now I just need to figure out who it is I love.
Let’s look at this by first asking the question, “Who is it that loves me?” Well, my parents, my kids, my wife or husband, my brothers and sisters. I know they love me. Who else? I guess some of the people I call my friends might. And God. Yes, I know that God loves me. So I guess as long as I love them back, that’s all I need to do, right?
Jesus addressed this very issue when He was speaking to His disciples after choosing the twelve in Luke 6:32-36 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
It’s not complicated at all. God’s taken all the guesswork out of it. He’s made it so easy to figure out who we’re to love that a two year old child could understand. So again, who is it I need to love? Everybody!!! If they love you, love ‘em back. If they don’t love you, love ‘em anyway.
I know this isn’t always easy. Nobody ever said that living a true Christian life was easy. But you see, we are a holy people. People set apart to do God’s will. Set apart to do God’s work. And a very large part of that work is living not just a love-filled life, but also a love-filling life.
Listen to what Jesus said in John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Also, the inspired apostle wrote in 1John 4:7-12: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Now, the verses we just read say that we should love each other as God loves us, and that people will know that we’re Christ’s disciples if we do. That’s something for us to strive to achieve. And it is achievable if we put forth the effort and ask God for strength to overcome our natural tendencies to love only those we choose. And that, my friends, is the essence of godly love.
We bask in the light and warmth of God’s love because He gives it to us freely. But you see, there is a price for that love. Not a price that we pay, but a price that God has paid.
Am I worthy of God’s love? Absolutely not! Does God count me as being worthy of His love? Without question! He loves me so much that His utmost desire is that I’ll spend eternity with Him. God loves me so much that He paid the ultimate price. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross because He loves me...and you so much.
Considering all the things that we do that makes us undeserving of all the blessings we receive because of God’s love, and the sacrifice that He made for us through that love, is it really so hard to show love to all the people we could; even the ones who aren’t so lovable?
Do me one small favor. The next time you have a private conversation with God, would you ask Him to help me to learn to love everybody? It’s not easy, but I know that if I count on Him, the one who is the Author of Love, He’ll help me be better at loving. I’ll be sure to pray for you, too.
Love is the greatest gift we can receive. It’s also the greatest gift we can give. God’s already paid for it. It costs us nothing. Where love is concerned, you don’t give till it hurts. You give in abundance, and then there’s still as much as when you started. God gives an ample supply. Accept your unending portion, and then share it with everyone you can.
