Revival of Love: Love is a Verb - Part 2

We’ve all said it. Probably more times than we can count. Three words, eight letters, and we throw them around mindlessly.

I love you.

But here is the question I have been sitting with: what does love actually do?

“Love” is not just a word, and “I love you” is not just a set of words designed to get a certain response from someone. It is not even an emotion, though emotions can certainly be a part of it. Love, at its core, is a verb. It is active. It is engaging. It moves.

Think about a rock dropping into a river. The moment it hits the water, ripples go out. There is engagement, movement, impact. That is what love looks like. It is not stagnant. Love itself creates a ripple that reaches further than you can see with your eyes.

Paul lays it out in 1 Corinthians 13 in a way that leaves very little wiggle room. Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous, not boastful, not rude. It does not demand its own way. It keeps no record of being wronged. It never gives up, never loses faith, and endures through every circumstance.

Now I want to be honest with you. None of this definition of love that Paul gave is natural. Those characteristics are not always my first instinct. It is easy to be rude. It is easy to be impatient. It is easy to keep score. That comes naturally to all of us. But love, real love, the kind God is calling us into- that love takes intentionality. That love is supernatural, because it requires us to step completely outside of our own nature and walk in something higher.

Here is what I find convicting about this. Most of us are pretty good at the action when people are watching. We can turn it on. We can smile, shake the hand, say the right thing. However, it is the attitude behind it that tells the real story. God is not just calling us to better behavior. He is calling us to a transformation from the inside out, where love is not just something we perform but something we are.

Think about the people in your life this week. Not just the easy ones whose personalities you click with, think about the difficult ones. The people in your life that you have to pray about before you engage with them. 

That is our measuring stick. That is where the verb, “love” gets tested.

Love is not what we say. It is what we do, even when it is hard, even when it costs us something, even when nobody is watching.

That is the love God is calling the Church into. And I believe with everything in me that when we get there, it will change everything around us.

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This is part of our ongoing Revival of Love series. Next time, we will keep building on what this love actually looks like when it walks out the door and into everyday life.