Love in Action

Some time ago, I read about a pastor named Dr. E.V. Hill who served a church in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Back in the 1960s, during the burnings, looting, and community riotings, Dr. Hill did a very difficult thing. He denounced his neighbors who were destroying property and stealing from area merchants. Of course, his criticism brought threats to him and to his church.

One night the phone rang, and his wife noticed how shaken he was after the caller hung up. “What was that all about?” she asked. “Oh nothing,” replied Dr. Hill. His wife did not let up, and finally, he told her, “They have threatened to blow up our car with me in it.” Late in the night, they discussed how impossible it would be to protect their car from wire bombings 24 hours a day.

The next morning when he woke up, the pastor noticed that his wife was not in the house. Neither was his car in the carport, and he became extremely concerned. A few minutes later he saw his car roll into the driveway with his wife at the wheel.

She had driven the car around the block to make sure it would be safe for her husband to drive later that morning.

“From that day,” said Dr. Hill, “I have never asked my wife if she loves me.”

He knew because he saw her love in action.

Isn’t that what the world needs from those of us who follow Jesus – to see our love in action?

In the first letter of John chapter 3, we read, “Little children, let us love not in word or in speech but in truth and in action.”

Let us pray: Loving God, we thank you for people who have shown us their love by their generosity, by their sacrifice, by their actions toward us. May we be the kind of people who show our love for you by the way we treat others. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.