Love is a verb...

In many ways it is easy to say the word “love”.  We love the Chiefs, we love pizza, we love vacations...there are so many things that we love, and because of that we will find ourselves saying “I love (fill in the blank), that maybe we forget the power of what love does and not just says.  John 3:16, one of the most popular verses, in fact so popular you will see it at sporting events, and if you have grown up in the church you probably memorized before you realized you had.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  It can be so easy to memorize a verse, recite it, and just move on.  What if we paused and reflected on the many verses that have been put to memory?  What if instead of just quickly spouting out John 3:16 we take an inward look at the outward work done on behalf of humanity.  God so loved...He loved the world, His creation, you, and me.  Yet it wasn’t just words of love, it was love put on display.  He loved mankind so much that He was willing to send His only begotten (which means rare, unique, one of kind, and there is no other like Him) Son.  Not just send Him to dwell amongst His creation, but to die the death that He didn’t deserve, for He had never sinned, yet He would die as one who had (1 Corinthians 15:3). Why?  Romans 5:7-8 tell us “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  It wasn’t just words to God, and it isn’t something that God did because He decided to.  No, rather He sent His Son to die, to pay for the wages of sin, because that is what love does.  Love doesn’t look out for its own interest, rather love looks out for the interest of others.  True love just doesn’t say “I love you”, true biblical love shows love.  Philippians 2:8 reads “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Look at that again, in His humanity He became obedient to the point of death.  This is important, Jesus did this because He loved the Father, and so obeyed Him, even to the point of death on the cross, and God loved us that He was willing to send His Son to the cross.  Now for the greatest news of all news, Jesus didn’t stay dead!  We know that on the third day He came out of the grave.  That is what makes this message of love not just empty words, He didn’t just say He loves us, but He showed it.  He died in our place, and He rose so that we too could rise with Him.   Much love

Pastor Michael