02/07/2010

Tell Me About Love - Part IV - Love Needs Action

In 1Corinthians 13:4-7 Paul gives us a teaching on what love looks like. Here we read:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Listed in this short set of four verses are the actions that we Christians are supposed to show to others. They are the actions that God shows to all people, whether they are Believers or not. In other words, this is how one looks “perfect.”

We see that Paul tells us:

Love is patient – it is not quick to expect people to get it right all the time or right away. It is not pushy, but instead understands that people mature and progress at different rates.

Love is kind – it has compassion for others, and wants to see others succeed. It is not interested in exacerbating someone's troubles, but is instead focused on helping people succeed and grow, even through their failures.

Love doesn't envy – it does not want something that someone else has, but is instead happy for the success of others and for the fact that others have good things.

It doesn't boast – it is not proud; love is not concerned with being better than someone else, or making others feel worse about themselves. This means that it does not gossip, embarrass or ridicule others, and also it does not seek to be above others.

Love is not rude – it is not offensive or vulgar with others. This means that language and actions are neither offensive nor vulgar.

Love is not self-seeking – it is not looking out for its own interests, but is instead more concerned with others and their needs.

Love is not easily angered – it is tolerant of others' mistakes and shortcomings, and does not quickly escalate to anger over silly things.

Love does not keep record of wrongs – this is an accounting term, which means that love does not keep a credit and debit sheet of bad things others have done. It only keeps the good.

Love does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth – it is not happy about the failures of others, it does not gossip about others' mistakes or unlawful acts, and it does not celebrate when others stumble. Love instead celebrates in the truth that we are all made in God's image and that we are all in need of God's grace.

This is not intended to be a detailed explanation of any one of these aspects of love, but we will spend more time on this later. For now I want you to focus on one thing about this list; none of these are feeling oriented explanations for what love is. They are all actions instead.

You see if you look at this list you see that they are all things that you do for another person to demonstrate your love to another. We are not told to dote or adore another person, but to instead put your love into actions.

This is a very interesting explanation by Paul because it is much the same analysis that James gives in relation to faith. In James 2:14-18 he writes:

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Now let us clarify from the start that James is not saying that works or deeds are the means that one gains access into heaven. He is instead telling us that good deeds demonstrate our faith in God. It is our deeds that show that we are committing ourselves to God as we claim.

Here Paul is telling us much the same thing as James did, with the difference being that Paul is speaking about love. He could just have easily said that love without action is dead. This is where many of us fall short.

You see we talk about love in our churches; love your enemy, but this is not what we put into actions. We somehow think it is acceptable to just speak about our love for others, but to not apply any real substance to that by doing something to help or aid others. Love requires action and this is what Paul is teaching us here.

In Matthew 25:35-36 Jesus speaks of examples of how we can demonstrate this kind of love through our actions:

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

You see if we do things like feed those who are hungry and visit those who are sick and in prison then we show love. Our actions support the words we boldly speak.

If you really claim to love someone then do something to show that you do. Don't just talk about it; be about it. This is done by not envying or holding records of people's faults. This is done by being kind and patient. It is also done by giving to those who need and comforting those who are in need or reassurance. These are the things that demonstrate that you truly do have love for someone.

Otherwise if you do not demonstrate your love for others through your actions, then your love is dead.