“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” – 1 John 4:7. Today’s blog entry deals with showing love to others.
Before I go too far into this blog post, there are two questions I would like to ask…
How often do you tell your family and friends that you love them?
How often do you show your family and friends that you love them?
It’s important that we let our loved ones know that we love them both by the things we say, and by the things we do. The words that we speak carry a lot of weight (see Proverbs 18:21), and it is good that we use our words to let people know that we love them. Some people may be thinking to themselves “well I’m not really the type to say I love you, but my family and friends know I love them”. And while it may be true that your family and friends already believe that you love them, you may be surprised at the reaction you get if you actually tell them. For instance you may have a friend that grew up in a house hold where they often had negative things said to them, and really hasn’t had anyone (outside of a male/female relationship) tell them they love them. For most of their life they may have only associated love with sex. They may have mistaken lust for love. You actually telling them you love them (without there being any ulterior motives) could give them a new perspective on love, and impact them in a positive way. With this being said, I also want to point out that in male/female friendships people should make sure that the love they speak about is communicated/understood in the proper context.
“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” - Ephesians 4:2
In addition to telling people we love them, we should also show them through our actions. This can be done in a number of different ways. For example, helping someone move can be an example of showing love. Treating someone to lunch can be a way of showing love. Cutting someone else’s grass can be a way of showing love. The important thing is that our actions line up with our words. Could you imagine if you had a family member or friend that constantly said they loved you, yet they saw you on the side of the road with a flat tire, and just rolled down the window and smiled shouting out “I love you sis/bro” and then drove off. You probably would be thinking something along the lines of “what’s wrong with them, why didn’t they offer to help me out.” When we love someone we should be willing to help them in their time of need.
So as we live our lives, let us communicate our love for others through our words and through our actions.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
Before I go too far into this blog post, there are two questions I would like to ask…
How often do you tell your family and friends that you love them?
How often do you show your family and friends that you love them?
It’s important that we let our loved ones know that we love them both by the things we say, and by the things we do. The words that we speak carry a lot of weight (see Proverbs 18:21), and it is good that we use our words to let people know that we love them. Some people may be thinking to themselves “well I’m not really the type to say I love you, but my family and friends know I love them”. And while it may be true that your family and friends already believe that you love them, you may be surprised at the reaction you get if you actually tell them. For instance you may have a friend that grew up in a house hold where they often had negative things said to them, and really hasn’t had anyone (outside of a male/female relationship) tell them they love them. For most of their life they may have only associated love with sex. They may have mistaken lust for love. You actually telling them you love them (without there being any ulterior motives) could give them a new perspective on love, and impact them in a positive way. With this being said, I also want to point out that in male/female friendships people should make sure that the love they speak about is communicated/understood in the proper context.
“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” - Ephesians 4:2
In addition to telling people we love them, we should also show them through our actions. This can be done in a number of different ways. For example, helping someone move can be an example of showing love. Treating someone to lunch can be a way of showing love. Cutting someone else’s grass can be a way of showing love. The important thing is that our actions line up with our words. Could you imagine if you had a family member or friend that constantly said they loved you, yet they saw you on the side of the road with a flat tire, and just rolled down the window and smiled shouting out “I love you sis/bro” and then drove off. You probably would be thinking something along the lines of “what’s wrong with them, why didn’t they offer to help me out.” When we love someone we should be willing to help them in their time of need.
So as we live our lives, let us communicate our love for others through our words and through our actions.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8