LOVE IS A VERB

1 John 3:16 New Living Translation

“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

John 3:16 New Living Translation

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 15:13 New Living Translation

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

            The first two verses listed above have a familiar ring to them. The Apostle John, son of Zebedee, brother of James, the Apostle is the author; the Holy Spirit is the originator. The thought is all three verses is the same; love is a verb … an action verb at that.  If you want to let someone know how much you love him or her, show them. Jesus established the template that we are to follow, not by dying for another, but by living out our love.

            The originator of the text constructed it so that the chapter and verse of John’s gospel account & first letter matched exactly and said essentially the same thing. That is the point of Christianity; that God came to earth as a man to live out his life among us and then sacrifice his own life in exchange for ours. It is the greatest show of love to ever take place throughout the annals of time. No other ‘religion’ has its key figure die for the sins of others. As a matter of fact Christianity isn’t a religion at all; it is relational. We enter into a personal relationship with the spirit being who created us in our mother’s womb. That is unbelievable!

            Striving to live as Jesus did doesn’t involve dressing as he did. That is irrelevant. Exhibiting kindness, mercy, compassion, humility and love as Christ did … that’s what we are asked to do with our second chance. It’s not easy, but no one said it would be. It means we leave our comfort zones behind. It means thinking of the interests of others prior to our own interests. And why shouldn’t we. Philippians 4:19 NLT  “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” If we truly believe that then why shouldn’t we look to meet the needs of others before meeting our own? We need to ask the Lord to show us how so we can be a true ambassador of his. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible