Love in action...

Love in action...

Love in action...

By Bobby Schuller, Crystal Cathedral Pastor

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing...And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

-1 Corinthians 13:2,13

Paul is the apostle of love. As he shared the message of the love that we ought to have for one another, he emphasized that it is paramount, the most important thing, the thing that transcends every moral code, higher than any claim that anyone makes. Nothing that the different denominations, groups, and religious sects claim matters if they don't have love. Without love, nothing matters.

One of the most insightful things that Paul shares with us about love is that love is not an emotion. Love is an action. Love is what you do. People may say, "Oh, I get this feeling of love in my heart and I nurture it. Then, if it blossoms enough, I will love someone in action." However, that's not the way at all.

I remember talking with a woman who was a volunteer for New Hope, our 24-hour phone and online counseling ministry. She said, "You know, one of the hardest things about working for New Hope is, as I end the call, when I have to say, 'God loves you and so do I.' I don't really know this person, so how can I say 'and so do I'? Right? I don't know the person from Adam."

What she expressed is what many of us think about love - that love is an emotion that you feel for someone after you get to know him or her. If you get to know a person who's charming enough, perhaps good looking enough, or funny enough, then you will love them. That is, until the moment they are no longer charming, funny, or attractive to you in some manner. Therefore, that love then becomes only a reaction to a person's performance.

That's not what love is. Love is an action.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to express love to others as you express love to me - with no expectations and no conditions. Let my love toward others be an act of worship toward you. Amen.