Love In Action

Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome back! This is Emily and I’m so glad you’ve joined me here on the Living on Prayer podcast. We’re in the middle of a series entitled God’s Love and today’s episode is specifically about love in action. Before we dive into this a bit more, I want to say that bringing this series out onto the air was a struggle, but it truly is a manifestation of love. I think I understand why God wants me to talk about this series and He’s been pushing me so hard to talk about it but the process of bringing these episodes, this whole series to life and out onto the air for others to hear has been hard. It’s been both an internal and external struggle and challenge and at times I’ve even procrastinated and put it off in hopes that the challenges would iron themselves out or maybe go away. But you know you just don't get away with not doing what God asks you to do. At some point He's going to find a way to get through to you. I learned that lesson the hard way a while back in my life and I know better now. So when God asks me to do something I know I just need to go and do it. I can’t put it off and I know better than to make Him ask me more than once. All struggles and challenges aside, the actions taken to create this series were done out of love. Love for Christ, love for others, love to serve and help and I really just hope that comes through but even if it doesn’t then I trust that God knows His work is being completed as He asked so that maybe others can be blessed and encouraged and I hope that maybe you are one of those people.

 So let’s dive in!  Love in Action. I actually love this topic because I’m such a heart person. I’m such a feeler. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some softie or mushy-gushy person or anything like that. That’s not what I mean by being a feeler. I just use my heart more than I use my head which I can promise you has not always been the best choice in my life but whatever. It’s just who I am! But because I am a heart person, I don’t mince words. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I don’t play games. I have no tolerance for lies. I don’t really filter either. So when it comes to my words, they tend to carry weight when I’m being serious. Now I am pretty sarcastic and I do have a humorous side so those words can be taken with a grain of course at those times! Now I understand that not all people are like me and not all people mean what say and say what they mean and not all people don’t like lies and don’t play games. I get that and because I get that and I’ve experienced that even, then I have learned to really, really care more about other people’s actions and to pay attention to other people’s actions more than their words. So while other people’s words are super important to me because I know my words are spoken genuinely and from the heart, I’ve had to really look at and rely on other people’s actions over their words because their words have been proven to be unreliable.  And frankly people’s words are not the most reliable, are they? It wasn’t that long ago when a handshake could close a contract and that contract would be honored. Now we sue each other when a contract is hundreds of pages long and signed and notarized. Why? Because we’ve been hurt by each other. We’ve been hurt by what was said first and then done after. People’s actions are what matter most. That’s what I look at and that’s what I care the most about when it comes to relationships and making decisions. I will make decisions on a person’s actions and their patterns of actions or lack of actions even if their words are very different. I’ve let people go in my life who have said one thing and done very different things and when I let them go they, some didn’t even understand why because some of them were so used to their words and actions being misaligned. It’s actually sad that some of us have made habits out of saying one thing and doing another but that’s not what God wants for us. 

 What does Love in Action look like? Well the Bible is plagued with stories of love in action but one I love the most, the one that represent Love in action so well actually is when God sent His son, Jesus, to earth to save us from death and sin. We were destined to death and sin for eternity but yet God loved us enough to take action and send us a way out. That’s love in action. When Jesus was on earth, He showed Love in action so many ways, again the Bible shares those with us. He did so by healing the sick and giving to the poor and raising the dead and even eating with those that were the outcasts. And He didn’t just heal and give, he also forgave people too. He forgave many people of their sins as well while He walked the earth those 33 years. And He served, He served the people. He didn’t come to earth with an entitlement of some kind of royalty or title or even money. He came and served the people. And He worshiped and He taught. And He established a group of believers who continued to serve and heal and forgive and worship and teach and give long after He returned to Heaven. That is what Love in Action looked like from the beginning of Christ on earth. That’s what God intended. He didn’t intent for anyone, even Jesus, to go around and say to someone “I love you” and that’s it. That was never God’s intent. 

 So today we as a society are a bit more like the “I love you” and that’s it society. Or sometimes worse we’re the “I love you” and when the person walks away we start talking smack about them society. I mean, let’s be real. With all the social media platforms out there, you know it happens! How can we as individuals and if you’re a Christian than how can we as both an individual and as a Christian, how can we better align our love actions to those that God intended?

 So let’s go deeper into what God really intends for us to do with our love in action. As I mentioned earlier about what Jesus did when He was on earth, we are also a part of that great group of believers that Jesus created thousands of years ago. So as part of that group of believers, we as Christians, should show our love in the form of actions like Jesus did which is through serving, worshiping, giving, healing, teaching, and forgiving. These are all ways in which we can show our Christ-like love to others in various actions. God has an awesome way of nudging us when He wants us to help, even if we feel like it’s a challenge or it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. He will still nudge us and I really hope each of us will take on His request because as it says in 1 John Chapter 1, Verse 4 "We love because He first loved us."

And again in 1 John Chapter 3, Verses 18-19 "Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God."

If ever you are unsure how to show love in action let me point you to Jesus as an example. He did what He said He was going to do. He was consistent with His words. He didn’t discriminate with who He loved, served, healed, taught, forgave, or gave to. He was selfless in his actions. He wasn’t looking for reward or notoriety or fame or payback. He wasn’t keeping score or a checklist. He was just following up his words of love with actions. That’s how you do it folks. Just like Him.

If you ever really need to remember how to do it then just go back to this thing we used to do many years ago called “What Would Jesus Do – WWJD”. We had these woven bracelets that we wore that said WWJD as reminders to ourselves and maybe even others that saw it to help us remember in all situations to act according to Jesus and think like Him. If we all tried to do that in our situations then we’re more likely to be providing love in action and by doing so we’ll definitely be more confident when we stand before God.

Thank you again for joining me today. I hope you feel loved as well today because God definitely loves you. So much. I can’t even emphasize it enough but He does. Please know He’s always there for you and waiting to hear from you so please reach out anytime for anything. He’s waiting for you always. And as we move through the remaining episodes of this series, we’ll talk more about other aspects of God’s love but I really hope that so far you’ve learned about or been reminded of God’s love, His grace and His mercy, forgiveness, and now more about love in action. 

 Now let me close us out with this prayer from the book of Jude, Chapter 1, Verse 24-25 “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.”

I’m excited to have you back again soon! But until then, please be safe. Thanks everyone!