Monday, February 28, 2011

I Told You 40 Years Ago.......

There is an old, bad joke that goes something like this: a wife was complaining to her husband that he never tells her that he loves her anymore to which he responds 'I told you once forty years ago that I loved you and if it changes I'll let you know'. I never liked that joke. It's not funny and it's mean spirited and sadly, in some marriages, it's all too true. We need to hear that we are loved and we need to hear it often. But even more importantly than hearing it, we need to know it and the only way we can truly know it is to see it being evidenced in our lives from those around us.

If someone tells you that he loves you but treats you poorly and puts you down, that isn't love. We've all heard it said that actions speak louder than words and that's true. A love expressed only in words is no love at all! Mere words not backed with actions are no use at all. Love does not exist only in kind words and sentimental feelings, in fact in some circumstances a rebuke or correction, with constructive criticism, is a greater expression of our love towards someone! A parent who loves their child will correct them and sometimes even discipline them in their love for their child. Our Heavenly Father will often correct us out of His great love for us.

Nobody enjoys correction but if given in love and for our good it can become more bearable. God's desire is to mould us and make us into a reflection of Himself. To accomplish this sometimes He has to allow us to go through trials and hardships to form our character. He doesn't do this because He hates us, no on the contrary, He allows these things in our lives because He loves us and He knows we will become a better person for having gone through it.

Our love for our families and neighbours is revealed in our actions and our inaction towards them. It's one thing to tell them that we love them but we need to show them our love. Look around you for ways to show your love. It's one thing to say you love your neighbour, as Scripture dictates we must do, but if your neighbour is in need and you have the means to meet that need and don't, do you truly love them? No, of course not.

We need to start each day telling the Lord that we love Him and then going out and showing Him that we love Him by treating His creation kindly. We need to show our love to those around us. Sometimes just an encouraging word will show our love. Sometimes it's meeting a need. Sometimes it's giving loving correction because you are sincerely concerned about that person. Whatever way you show your love is up to you but please do show it. Don't be like the poor wife in the joke I started out with, always wondering if her husband still loved her. Whether we ever tell our loved ones that we love them (and I believe we should) isn't as important as showing them.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."

(1 John 3:18)

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