Not a Second-Hand Emotion
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39
Tina Turner sang this song and turned it into a big hit in 1984. I am going to assume after reading the lyrics that she did not understand love from a godly perspective. I am also bold enough ask: Do we? What does love have to do with anything today?
The world, national and local news does not speak of love in any form. I have just made a false statement. Did you catch it? There are people doing some evil things around the world and we are aware of them. However, there are loving and concerned souls that come to help those in need. That is love!
Love is not cards, flowers or candy. It is about being almost frozen but feeling sheer joy in pulling a 7th day survivor from the rubble after Turkey’s earthquake. It’s about the shaking finger of the fighter pilot who launched the missile taking down the unidentified object knowing that he did his duty to protect the country he loves.
Love is sometimes hard to find after a violent crime. But wait, what are all those candles, flowers and notes left in plain sight? Aren’t they acts of love? Perhaps the criminals were not able to love their neighbors as themselves because they felt unlovable.
Truly, love is not a secondhand emotion. God sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, as the purest act of love. Showing love to others every day is not easy because there are some who are difficult to even care about. But God, in His mercy and grace, knows that we are quite capable of falling short due to our sinful nature.
Imagine what our community would look like if the love of Jesus was realized by everyone and shown in all of our daily lives! Would there be any missing persons, any rumors of guns at school, any scammers preying on seniors, any cyber thefts? Not hardly!
This crazy little thing called love is the biggest, best and brightest light we can show others. It is not little! It just keeps growing and glowing.
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to teach us about love. Help us learn from Him and practice loving as He did. AMEN.