Tuesday 05 January 2010

Background

Today we are looking at love in action. One of the keycharacteristics of love is that it is something we share with otherpeople. If we only love ourselves then we are not truly living ourlives as whole people. This limits us and does not allow us to betruly the person God created us to be. Each and every one of us hasthe potential both to love and be loved.

However there is a flip side. Each and every one of us also has thepotential to hate and be hated. In verse 15 there are strong echoesof Jesus' teaching that anyone who looks at a woman with lust iscommitting adultery (Matthew 5:28). Likewise looking upon yourbrother with hate is the same as committing murder, and in thiscontext we mean brother, or sister, in God's family. God does notexclude anyone from this family and so neither should we.

God blesses us with abundant love, pouring it upon usunconditionally and without restraint. The proper response is toshare that love, to lay down our lives for others (see John15:13). This does not have to mean physically dying for them.It can also mean putting aside the things that are important to usin order to give our time and our resources in another person'sservice. It might mean laying aside our own prejudices to offerunconditional love to another. It definitely means giving ourselvesto God and to one another and expecting nothing in return.

These responses are given voice in the Covenant Prayer which many Methodists(and others) say during the Covenant Service at this time ofyear.

To Ponder

Love is sacrificial. To what extent are youwilling to love without restraint, expecting nothing in return?

Love is unconditional. Do you find some peopleharder to love than others? What can you do about this?

Love is action. Do we sometimes focus on our own'death' and neglect our brother's/sister's 'life'?