Christian Living
Love is Something you Do
By Patricia Backora
I remember one guy I used to work with. He was a hard-boiled skeptic and hard to witness to. He didn’t readily buy into all the religious “love-talk” going around. He had gone to church for awhile in his youth, but found that the vast majority of the time, if someone said they loved you with the love of Jesus, it was all talk. When the chips were down, it was unbelievers whom he could depend on, not Christians. However gentle and sweet their words sounded, they were insincere . Jesus raised his voice to haughty Pharisees. He didn’t mince words, either. He called them snakes and vipers. But perhaps He felt that it was high time that those hypocrites should hear a little truth, instead of getting the flowery flattery to which they had grown accustomed. When Jesus raised his voice against unloving Pharisees, it was really love in action.
• God is not impressed with perfumed speech that doesn’t keep its promises. I am reminded of an incident in the Bible where a father asks his two sons to go out to work in the vineyard. One son was very polite, but the other son wasn’t. But who ended up showing love toward his father?
Matt. 21:28-31: “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
Love is something you DO. We need to act on our words. If we swear up and down we love Jesus enough to die for Him, why won’t we go have coffee with another brother or sister whose set of doctrines might be slightly different from those we hold? And I’m not talking about doing this with the goal of converting a pre-tribber to the post-trib position. So long as two Christians agree on the essentials of salvation, why draw bitter battle lines over the rest? When we tolerate only those Christians who pre-tribulate their theology like unto us and wear their hair in a tiny little knot just like us, it means our love is really toward ourselves. Just like a baby is utterly self-obsessed to the point where it draws all good things unto itself and ignores others, immature believers are self-obsessed to the point where they only associate with Christians who are the mirror image of themselves. Walk down any street. Invariably you will see two teenagers walking together dressed identically and wearing the same hair style. They stay friends only because they see themselves in each other. The minute one of them wears a checkered dress instead of droopy jeans, that’s when their “friendship” will begin to die.
As in the case of the not-so-religious man I cited, often it’s people outside the church who have a deeper understanding of what love is. They can see past all the insincere waffling going on. The Love of Jesus is other-directed, not self-directed.
* * * * *
Taken from one of my novel chapters is a scene where a very simple girl tries to tell her self-obsessed employer the real meaning of love. In a desperate bid to get Susanna on her side, wily Lydia appeals to the memory of Susanna’s improvident father, who was executed for rebellion and blasphemy against the Lord.
The girl looked Lydia squarely in the eye. “Miss Lydia, I know I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I don’t like contradictin’ you, but that man knew nothin’ about love. Don’t you get it, Miss Lydia? Love is somethin’ you do. Love is all about givin’. All Dad ever gave Mom was grief, and a houseful of kids he could care less about. Mom has been healed inside, Miss Lydia, and she’s happier without Dad than she ever was with him! God makes her happy! God even gave His Son for us, Miss Lydia, but all these years I was too selfish to care much about that!”
“The Bible says: Prove all things,” argued Lydia. “Sometimes it takes awhile till you’re sure about matters of faith, Susanna. Your father wasn’t sure yet. Is that such a big sin?”
“I’ll tell you what sin is, Miss Lydia. Bein’ sure God is good, but lyin’ to yourself about it. That’s what my dad did, that old reprobate who forgot the God of his childhood!”
“Well,” persisted Lydia, “the human mind is malleable, like plastic. First, people form generalized impressions about the nature of things. Impressions solidify into firm opinions, and if unrefuted, opinions become unshakable convictions. Even if your father held some religious belief as a child, how do you know he wasn’t still in the questioning stage, where the alleged goodness of the Lord is concerned?”
“Cause every day Dad and his buddies ate the Lord’s alleged goodness! For weeks on end, they lived off the Lord, eatin’ His fish and berries, His walnuts, plums and peaches, His mushrooms and wild greens. Not once did Dad ever give God thanks, nor did he ever call to check on my Mom.
“Even the little songbirds know more about love than Dad did. The good Lord takes care of ‘em all every day. They aren’t very big, Miss Lydia, but at least they sing for the Lord. My deadbeat dad just took from God and never gave back any thanks, just griped about what he didn’t have yet. God poured love out on Dad every single day, but it was like water rollin’ off a duck’s back. And as for that verse you quoted, the last part of it tells us that if we’ve found somethin’ good, we’d better hang onto it tight.”
* * * * *
Hang onto the vision God gives you of His love.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 743 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Patricia Backora or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 743 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.