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Let Love Do the Talking
By Kimberly Rigney
April 24, 2006
For the past six months God has been dealing with me about love. It seemed as if I was hearing the word love and seeing people's versions of it displayed every where I turned. Of course, love is a common word, so common that I believe many people take it for granted or misuse it. But for whatever reason, my heart became very sensitive to the slightest mention or action of love.
How many times have you heard "actions speak louder than words"? I can't think of a truer statement. It's easy to say things, but it’s much harder to actually do what you say. Therefore before anything further can be said, we must understand that love is an action, a verb. It’s not a noun or an idea. On the contrary, it must be something that we demonstrate every day. As Christians, and especially Apostolics, we tend to forget that our actions speak much louder than our prayers, standards, or beliefs.
I’m sure you have often heard the phrase, “Your life is the only Bible some people read.” Are people reading love or selfishness when they look at your life?
There is a pop song, “More Than Words,” by the artist Extreme and recently re-released by Frankie J. A line from the song says: "More than words is all you have to do to make it real, then you wouldn't have to say that you love me, Cause I'd already know."
It’s time as Christians that we put action behind the scriptures and let our love do all the talking.
God had begun to show me that my love has to have action to it. However, I wasn’t exactly sure what true, Christian love entailed. God began to show me, and it all began with a "friendship" I had with a guy.
There was a guy, who I had obviously become attached to, but the guy had some issues and a flirtatious lifestyle and so no commitment was ever made. I became very angry when I wasn't treated like I thought I should have been, and I wanted to tell this guy off so bad that I could taste it. However, for some reason, whenever the opportunity would arise, something stopped me. Despite my anger, I found myself being nice and being his friend. It was the weirdest thing, but somewhere a genuine friendly love developed in my heart for this person. No matter how mad he made me, I kept showing a godly love. Now, there were a few times that I said some things I shouldn't have, there were a few arguments, and there are some friends that heard everything I was going to tell him if I could just get the chance. Yet in the end, friendship remained.
Now, many people may think my feelings
towards this guy are positive only because I thought I could eventually win the
guy over. However, that's not the case. I'm about 99.99% sure that it's never
going to work out, but not because he's a bad person and I'm bitter, but because
it's just not God's plan. Speaking as a girl, we often get angry with a guy when
things don’t work out. Even though I felt I could have been justified to be
upset, for the most part, I never became angry. Through everything, I always
tried to see things from his point of view, and in doing that I can truly say
that I’m his friend, and I show myself friendly to him whenever I see him.
During this soap opera saga of my life, I caught a glimpse of God's Agape love.
No matter how many times I felt wronged, I still loved this guy. I did it
without getting anything in return. The truth of the matter is that this guy
(most of the time) and almost everyone else didn't even know there was a
problem. I saw what God's true love was like. I will be the first to admit that
I am by no means perfect, and I can't say that I've acquired that love for
everyone. However, in this instance, I saw how God loves His children. No matter
how many times we fail Him, He still loves us and cares for us as if we never
did anything wrong. That is unconditional, true love.
I met another guy who was of a different denomination than me. He began asking me numerous questions about what I believe and how it was different from what he believed. I prayed that God would help me convey my convictions to him in the right way, not in a judgmental spirit. I began to study God's word. I wondered how exactly this guy and others would know that I'm different. Through many conversations, I tried to explain the differences between our two denominations. As we talked, the guy acknowledged that people could see my outward appearance (skirts and long hair) and visibly notice that I was different.
Although that is true and very important, I felt there had to be something deeper. God quickened a verse to my mind, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another" (John 13:34). If I had my own translation of the Bible I would make it read, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you show love one to another.” So here I am, back at my original thought about love. It means nothing to say you love someone; you need to have some actions to back it up. The Bible says"…faith if it hath not works, is dead being alone" (James 2:17). Well in my translation I'll add, "Love without works is dead, being alone." It is crucial to all of man to know that you honestly care about them, and it's going to take more than just saying, "Oh hey, I love you," and then walking away. What we need is more love in our lives, to show people that we are God's disciples.
Love Can Build A Bridge
God said there are two great commandments:
1) Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and spirit. 2) Love your neighbor
as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).
Right now let's concentrate on the second commandment. We have to love everyone
we come in contact with just as much as we love ourselves. Now, if any of you
are like me, I'm pretty fond of myself. Therefore, I should be pretty fond of
everyone else too. I should be one of the biggest "people persons" out there.
God goes as far to say that all the law and the prophets hang on those two
commandments. That means, if you don't grab a hold of this love thing and run
with it, you might as well pack up your bags and go home. That's how important
it is to love other people.
Now back to my original theory. It's one thing to say that I love my neighbor;
it's another thing to go cut his grass for him when he's sick. It's one thing to
say that I love my neighbor; it's another story to go help a homeless man. See
what I'm getting at? Love is an action and a choice. Love is not involuntary or
uncontrollable. We choose who we love. If we had no control over love, God never
would have commanded us to do it. God wouldn’t make us do something we were
incapable of. Trust me, I'm preaching to myself here because there are a few
people that seem impossible to love.
Will loving your neighbor by itself save you and send you to heaven? No. However, I do believe that it will help you keep your salvation, and you're not getting in without doing it. Everyone is looking for love and it is the only thing that can build a bridge from Hell to Heaven.
The greatest commandment of all times is to
Love God with all your heart, body, mind, and spirit (Mark 12:30). Now just
watch and see how all of this is connected...
When you really love someone, you go out of your way to please him or her. You
do little things that may not necessarily be required, just to show how much you
care. You do more than just say you love someone, you show them. Well the same
applies with our love for God. When we develop a deep, loving relationship with
our Creator, we'll begin to do more and sacrifice more just to please Him.
One big issue with me is "Standards of Holiness." I began my College and Career
Sunday School Class down this trail. I mentioned earlier a guy that was
questioning me about my beliefs. Well in a quest to give him the right answers,
I began to question myself. Didn't God say that by love people would know
we were different? God also said He looked on the heart of a man, not on his
outward appearance. So maybe my whole denomination was wrong when it came to
outward standards??
It didn't take me too long to begin to dig and search for an answer. I'm the
type of person that wants an exact explanation, a word for word reason. It's not
enough for me to say, "Well that's what the rule book says, and you have to do
it." I want to know why.
It all comes back to love. Yes, there are
biblical reasons as to why I wear skirts and don't cut my hair. However, I don't
just build my faith upon those reasons because some of them are easily
refutable, as I have recently read. My "standards" come from a love for God that
has developed in my heart. There is a good chance that I can get to heaven
without doing or not doing all those things. However, God is pleased that I
would make myself separate, that I would abide by His word and carry on those
standards. It's just something extra I do to please Him.
I find it easier to live my Christian life when I look at things this way. Love
is something everyone can understand. I don't sit around nervous, wondering if
I'm going to have to explain my beliefs to someone new. Now, I can simply say,
there are biblical principals that I base my lifestyle upon, but more
importantly I do this to show God that I love Him. It is the way I express my
love to Him. Everyone expresses love in different ways, and if you don't see my
reasoning, it doesn't mean that I'm wrong or you're wrong. It's just my
relationship with God.
When I love God like I should, with everything I have, I find it easier to love
my neighbor. So by living the first commandment, I can do the second
commandment. When I abide by those two rules, I can easily master everything
else because I've got the hardest stuff down.
Every single action we take should be done in love, first with a love for God,
then with a love for our neighbor. They work hand in hand. Just by being a
loving person to everyone, I've witnessed. I may never lay hands on someone, or
give them a Bible study, or cast demons out of someone (which is all great
stuff), but people know that I'm a Christian because they see love in me.
The Bible says in the last days that men would come to judgment day saying "Lord, Lord, I did this in Your name and that in Your name." However, God will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Why is that? We can preach, speak in tongues, and pray for people all without love. However, it means nothing to God if our actions are not rooted in love.
And that, my friends, is my theory on love!
ninetyandnine.com
© 2006, Kimberly Rigney
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Kimberly Rigney is a young lady who still struggles with loving everyone. Hopefully with the help of God and her high school students, She'll master it one day. Until then, you can find her ranting on her blog http://www.originallyunoriginal.blogspot.com/