Back in my teen years a song came along, recorded by Dionne Warwick, that skyrocketed to the top of the music charts and remained on top for several weeks. The title was "What the World Needs Now." The message:
What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
It's the only thing that there's just too little of.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
No, not just for some, but for everyone.
When Christ was asked which commandment was the "greatest" one, His reply was,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the
Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
For most of us, this is not an unfamiliar passage in Scripture. In fact, we've probably heard it quoted and preached all our lives. But, my question to you would be: What does that LOOK like? How does that kind of love manifest itself in our daily lives? What do we DO to show that kind of love, and where do we LEARN to do it?
Perhaps we can go to the store and buy a book on love and by reading it we'll become experts on the subject. Maybe we'll buy that book and let it sit on our bedside table so that hopefully we'll learn all it teaches through some kind of miraculous process of osmosis; the teachings in the book will simply float across the void between our pillow and the pages of that work and infiltrate our minds while we sleep. And then, we will awaken a new person, filled to overflowing with love and ready to pass it along to all we meet.
Or maybe we'll spend hours in front of the television watching religious programming and anointed preachers. Surely we will hear about love from them and be challenged to show that love to others. Television evangelists are well-known for their fiery, convicting dialogue that digs to the heart of a matter and brings its truth to light so that those watching will know of all the scriptures and Biblical references that speak to it. With enough time in front of the T.V. we'll certainly become loving individuals.
If those two avenues don't do it for us, surely we can learn how to love in Sunday school class and from the sermons preached in church. We will learn all about Jesus, who loved the children... God, who loves us all... and the Holy Spirit, who gives us the ability to walk in love every day. Once we've been provided with all that information we'll be prepared to walk in Christ's love throughout our life and in every situation.
Now don't misunderstand me. I think that good Christian authors have done a great job of writing all about love, from every possible angle. In fact, even now I am writing about it hoping that you will read this post and find some nugget of truth you can apply to your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. Televangelists (at least most of them) have biblically solid ministries that meet the needs of those who are homebound or looking for some encouragement in everyday life. Our Sunday school literature and the sermons of anointed preachers in our churches are excellent ways in which we can hear the love message and discover how Jesus lived that message every day that He walked upon this earth. Even with all that, the question still remains: How does that love manifest itself in MY life? What does it look like for ME? How do I learn to SHOW real love to those around me and not just talk about it?
Recently, the Holy Spirit laid upon my heart the need for women to learn about the roles for which they have been created in order to glorify God in their lives. I awakened one morning with a message on my mind: simply, Titus 2. I confess that I do not have my entire Bible memorized, so I was not immediately aware of what Scripture had to say in Titus 2. A cup of coffee in hand, I took up my Bible to read this chapter and discovered within it the call for mature believers to "teach" others how to love:
"But [as for] you, teach what is fitting and becoming to sound (wholesome) doctrine [the character and right living that identify true Christians]. Urge the older men to be temperate, venerable (serious), sensible, self-controlled, and sound in the faith, in the love, and in the steadfastness and patience [of Christ]. Bid the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble, so that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children; to be self-controlled,chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited)." (Titus 2:1-5)
There is so much contained within this passage of Scripture that it would be impossible to address it all in one posting on this blog. And yet, I believe the teaching therein is crucial to be clearly understood and followed if we, as believers in Christ, are to fulfill that greatest of all commandments... to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and all our souls, and all our minds, and to love others even as we love ourselves. To that end, I have decided to dedicate my next several posts to addressing what that kind of love LOOKS like as it is lived out in day-to-day life at home. I pray the Lord will give me clear insight and the right words and examples to use to make that love, to which He has called us, something we can begin to show in concrete ways to our world. I pray, also, you will follow me on that journey.
"I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]."
(John 13:34-35, Amplified Bible)
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