Doves On Distant Oaks

All You Need is Love

As followers of Christ, we often spend a great deal of time trying to get people to recognize their sinfulness. This is important because unless people realize they are in sin, there is no reason for them to receive salvation from that sin. Unfortunately, in doing so we sometimes loose sight of an essential element of Jesus's teaching: that being love.

God is, indeed, love. We often dissect that word and it's various meanings, but we seldom talk about the actual action of loving. Too often, we look at love a bit passively. We love back when we feel loved. We care about others when others care about us. Sometimes this happens simultaneously, but how do we go about loving and caring when we are not loved. This was on the mind of the writer of Hebrews when he asked us to "... consider how we may spur one another toward love and good deeds."

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).

This is one instance where I like the wording of the King James version a bit better. Instead of "… spur one another on toward love and good deeds …," it says to "... provoke unto love and to good works …;" I like the word provoke. It carries with it a sense of immediacy of action. Often it's used in a negative sense, such a provoking someone to anger. Yet, if we can provoke someone to anger, how much more important it is to provoke someone to love.

This places the responsibility squarely on us. We are to actively seek a means to spur on others to love, not sit back and simply wait on them to love, and then pat them on the back when they do so. We need to say and do things that will encourage them to love, with the emphasis most likely on what we do to encourage others. In order to do so we need to wage love.

When we wage love, its what we do, not so much what we say, that carries the most weight. John the Apostle wrote, "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18). It seems that to John, our example was of utmost importance. We don't wage love by nagging or threatening, but rather through the way we live our lives—when our actions match our words.

Surely we all know of people who always seem to be positive, always seem to be filled with hope, always showing a caring attitude. This is the kind of thing that simply rubs off on other people. Our tongues are often double-ended, but when we show how much we love, the intent, or "truth" of our feelings is unmistakable.

We are a light to the world, a candle that cannot be hid under a basket. But a candle does not speak, it simply shines. Lets allow our light to shine for the whole world to see during these troublesome days ... let us wage love.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.

–Romans 13:8

Keywords: Light, Love, Provoke

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