True Love In Action
We've been reviewing The Scriptures to learn what GOD thinks makes for truly great relationships. We’re sharing a few of our findings in what we're calling the ‘Love Series’! Today's post is from 1 John 3:18. "My children, our LOVE should not be just words and talk; it must be TRUE LOVE, which shows itself in ACTION". Here, ‘insincere love’ is contrasted from ‘TRUE LOVE’. Insincere love wields the emotional power to make others ’feel great’ and think they are loved. But because its self-centered, it looks to satisfy itself and ONLY does enough to get what it wants. Fear immobilizes... and because its fear-based, not rooted in TRUE LOVE (which casts out fear - see 1 John 4:18) - when its ‘show-time’ to love back, it repeats its cycle of retreat and rationalizes why it doesn’t perform. It SAYS all the right things, but commits to fully DOING none of them.
TRUE LOVE is different. It is a DOER not a smooth TALKER. Its success is in GIVING not GAINING. Its mature love that says ”I am unafraid to show that I love you.” (The EMPHASIS is on ACTION)! And despite coming from imperfect people like us all, we noticed it still left behind a wake of healing not hurt. 'How to love like this?, good Q!' The verse opens with the answer in the 2 phrases ‘My Children’ and ‘Our Love’. The significance of ‘My children’ = ‘the dear ones who FOLLOW instruction and IMITATE the example.’ The significance of ‘OUR Love’ = the individuals desire / decision to make THIS WAY ‘their way’ to LOVE others... it shows their accountability. The book of 1 John is loaded with doable actions that show TRUE LOVE. That eliminates the guesswork and allows us to DO what ALWAYS works.
Unlike what some have sung about LOVE, #TRUELOVE is NOT a ‘losing game’... GOD is (perfect) LOVE and we can learn everything there is to know about it - right from The Source.
May we each have a great day and week ahead showing #TRUELOVE.
- Anothen