“All you need is love da da da da da all you need is love da da da da da”…. and so on.
I thought it apt this month to concentrate on what makes February sort of special-ish. St Valentine’s Day is great for some and for others quite onerous. The time when we pledge our love for our nearest and dearest with gifts, cards and a little romance. We may buy into the profit-making onslaught, or genuinely use the day to say “I love you”, but I don’t agree with the sentiments of the Beatles classic alluded to above.
“Foul” I hear you cry. How can a minister say such a thing, and a minister of a faith who’s cornerstone is the demonstration of the greatest act of love shown to all men, that of Jesus Christ.
Well that’s exactly the point, the “demonstration” and the “act” of love. Christianity is not all about love in a commercial, wishy-washy and vacuous way. If love does not reveal itself in actions it means nothing. In the Bible, there are many references to the love God has for us being rooted in what He has done for us, and what He is still doing. There are also many references to the love God expects us to exhibit. That we should not just wish others well but, in love, we should provide them with what they lack so that they will be well. For the widows and orphans, real love expresses itself in action.
True love also means a distaste of all that is wrong (1 Corinthians 13:6). In our relationships there may be things we find annoying and tedious (how hard is it to put the tops on things properly!!!), but that is not the root problem that real love is there to change. NO! We can fall foul of thinking that to love someone is to accept what they do. Who they are is not the problem, what they do is. God truly accepts who we are, but does not love what we do sometimes.
To change our actions, and reveal the true price of love, God sent Jesus Christ to DEMONSTRATE what love can do in ACTIONS. Actions which were not wishy-washy and vacuous, but were both demanding and life changing.
That kind of love is all you need.
Love Jason, The Man in the Manse