A young man wrote a letter to sweetheart in which he stated how very much he loved her. He wrote: “I love you so much that I would walk across the burning sands of the hottest desert, just to be near you. I would scale the highest mountain; swim the deepest ocean if you commanded it. Love always and forever, John. P.S. I am coming to see you tonight, if it doesn’t rain.”
Words used to describe one’s love for another are easily spoken and are often empty and void of meaning. How does one know if another’s declaration of love is true? By testing it!
God, our Father, did not just say, “I love you,” but proved His love by sending His Son to die for us. Jesus, also speaking of His love for His disciples, proved His love by laying down His own life on the cross of Calvary. Jesus, preparing His followers for His crucifixion, said to them: “Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…” “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 10:17-18a; 15:13)
The word ‘love’ has been defined in so many ways, but the test of love is the giving of oneself for the good of another. Is this how the love we have for others is expressed?
Looking around us, it is easy to see that there are many people who appear to be unlovable. Their attitudes and actions are unlovely, and they may live their lives in total contradiction to all we believe and hold dear. On that basis, we withhold the expressions of love that our Lord might have us share!
Though we may find it difficult to love some people and would certainly never go out of our way for them, Jesus did! He was willing to meet people at the point of need in their life; to minister to their hurts, even when facing hurts of his own. In fact, Jesus’ love for mankind was so great, He died for us while we were still sinners. Though men despised and rejected Him, ridiculed and abused Him, He did not withhold the expression of His love, but came and died for us all.
Yes, the test of love is the putting of our words into action; loving the unlovely as we let God love them through us. American Telephone and Telegraph™ coined the phrase: “Reach out and touch someone.”™ When we do just that, reaching out to touch the world with the love of God that flows through us, then the world will take notice that we are indeed His disciples for we shall be known by our love.
- Pastor Jerry L. Dunn, Oak Street Baptist Church
