The Word on Wednesday...

John 13:35- "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

1 Corinthians 13:1-3- "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a- "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:13- "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

2 Corinthians 3:3- "You are a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stones but on tablets of human hearts."

What is love? I could go to Webster's Dictionary, a wise elder or my pastor. I could search the Internet or many other resources to try to find out what love is. But I truly believe that the only place I need to look is in the good ol' Book of Life- the B-I-B-L-E. God tells us what love is in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. And He shows us what is throughout the entire bible! Did you know that when asked what is the great commandment in the Law, Jesus replied that to love God is the great and first commandment and the second is to love others? Of all the commandments God could have given us, of all the rules He could have laid out right then and there, the only thing He said was to love God and love others:

Matthew 22:34-39- "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

2 Corinthians 3:3 says: "You are a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stones but on tablets of human hearts." Wow- that means we are to be imitators of Christ! I believe Christ has told us and shown us ways to be imitators of Him in many ways. One way is by pouring the unconditional, never-ending love of Christ into others. We are vessels of Christ, He should be able to love others through us. Our love needs to be set apart from the World's love. We need to show love "in spite of" and "because of". In spite of rejection, hardship, or persecution, and because of the the love that Jesus showed us by dying on the cross for our sins.

I'll be the first to admit that it can be hard to love someone I don't know, someone who has hurt me or someone who is different. It is much easier to say, "Don't look at me, look at Jesus- read the Bible." Yes, it is good advice to look at Jesus and read the Bible, because people will always let you down. But, the truth is, we may be the only Jesus some will ever see. Dwight L. Moody says, "Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian." Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7: "You became imitators of us and of the Lord... And so you became a model to all the believers." We are God's love letter to the world! We were set apart for a purpose- to show God's love and communicate His glory to a lost and dying world. Have you shown someone that you and God love them lately?