For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV
I love pizza. I love my dog. I love my home. I love my wife. I love my country. I love to eat. I love my children. I love blue skies. I love the ocean. I love Jesus. Jesus loves lost people. Do I?
It’s easy to think of love like luggage – it’s something you own and carry around. Maybe you think of it like a picture on the wall. “Do you love your wife? Of course, see the picture of it on the wall”. It’s doesn’t have to stay a noun or a thing, it is most beautiful as a verb.
Love is one of the strongest motivators for action that exists on the planet. Everyone knows how the teenage boy changes clothes, hairstyle, and cologne when he is trying to impress “the girl”. Even though parents have harrassed him for years…he changes quickly for the right motivation.
God loves all people of the world…so it motivated Him to send His Son to the earth. Our brokenness and rebellion did not dissuade Him. “God demonstrated His own love toward us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.
Bob Goff has a book and branding for the concept of “Love does”. He wonderfully provides illustrations and stories to show the alignment of love and action. But “Love does” is 3rd person present singular of “do”. We can learn from what “love does” through others examples, but those ideas are not “my story”.
May I suggest that to grow in our personal desire for something valuable, “Do Love”. It captures “me” being fully responsible for loving actions. How Do I Love thee? Let me count the ways.
God did not just say that He loved us and then stay in heaven to see how we would respond. God found a way to “do love” for us by sending Jesus to live, walk, die, and rise again.
If we say that we love lost people, then we need to begin to “do love” for them. These are not just random acts of kindness, rather, these are intentional actions of “doing love”. Don’t limit it to just giving people stuff, rather include speech, hearing, smiles, eye contact, phone calls and physical touch as expressions of “doing love.” We have the capacity to be infinitely creative in communicating our love.
“Do Love” and watch how you begin to value the object of your affection.
Blessing Love y’all