What does it mean to love someone? To really love someone?
Most often, we link love with emotion. To many people, and perhaps most commonly, love is simply an emotional state of being. However this mindset sells love short. The beauty of love, of biblical love, of Christ-like love, is in its activity. Real love is not a passive emotion. Real love it not an emotional experience. Real love is action. Real love doesn’t just lead to action, real love isn’t just expressed in action. Real love is action.
Jesus explains to his disciples what love truly is, on the night before he died. His words can be found in John chapter 14 verses 23-24
“If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them. But anyone who doesn’t love me, won’t obey me.”
We cannot claim to love Jesus, and disobey his commands. We cannot claim to love Jesus and live our own way. Love is not just expressed in obedience, love is, in its very essence, obedience.
Jesus challenges his disciples to love him through their actions. He then demonstrates true love through his own actions the very next day, when he willingly gives up his life to save all those who trust in his name.
True love is difficult, because it requires action. It demands participation.
These challenging words of Jesus prompted the following verses:
I ask, do you love me?You nod firmly, yes
I ask, do you obey me?
You shrug and say, ‘I guess’
But when I look down upon
The way you spend your time
I can see you take your cues
From a worldly paradigm
When I say, flee from lust
You pretend you do not hear
You fill yourself with baseless sin
Without healthy fear
When I say, flee from theft
You agree and nod your head
Then go and rob your neighbours home
Ignoring what I said
When I say, flee from greed
You agree, ‘of course’
Then go and seek greater wealth
Driven by a selfish force
I don’t think you love me
For you do not obey
Even my most basic words
Not even for a day
If you turn yourself aroundDirect your love to me
The fathers love will fill you up
His final rest you’ll see
Liam Denny is a former radio journalist and newsreader, now working to bring the good new of Jesus to media workers in Sydney through the ‘Christians in the Media’ ministry. In his spare time, you’ll find him having coffee with his wife Jenny in cafes around Sydney’s inner west, playing sport and taking his dog for a swim in the harbour.
You can read his other work at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/liam-denny.html
