Love

The word love, at least in the English language, has become almost trite, and really over used. This is at least in part because we use it in so many different ways. For example, we might say, “I love my spouse…” or, “I love my children.” But then we might also say, “I love me some tacos!”

An elder in my church was recently telling me about her youth group growing up. She said her pastor would talk a lot about love. As teenagers, of course they were thinking about romantic love. But he clarified. Not romantic love, but a love that will sacrifice for another person… The students would say, “Well, we all love each other. We do things for each other.” And the pastor would respond, “That’s easy. You all are lovable! The challenge of the gospel is to love the unlovable!”

So true.  I think about the glimpses of this kind of love that I’ve seen. It plays out in a thousand different ways. It might pour itself out in a self-giving career. Or, work quietly behind the scenes to make the world a little better place. Love sees a need and meets it. Love has patience with people who different, and cares for the unloveable. Love lays down the ego. It works to reconcile, to heal, to mend, to bring together… And we could go on and on…

In the first letter of John we read, “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another… Little children, let us love not in word or in speech, but in truth and action.”  (1 John 3:16-17)

Let us pray: We are awed and humbled by your love for us, O God. Help us to reflect that same love, by the way that we speak and by the way that we live. Be especially near to those who hurting this day. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.