Imagine for a moment that you embark on a mountain-climbing expedition somewhere
in the Colorado Rockies with your good friend. At some point along the way, you
lose your footing and find yourself in the precarious position of dangling off
the edge of an icy two-hundred-foot cliff by one finger (let's make this
dramatic). You are screaming for your friend, crying out for help.
But he doesn't reach down to help you. Instead your hiking buddy
begins to eloquently intellectualize and verbalize his love toward you. He even
begins to experience all kinds of wonderful, blissful feelings about how much he
loves you and how much he will miss you when you fall to your death on the rocks
below. He tilts his head ever so slightly, bites his lip, and says, "I love you
so much. I'm just overwhelmed with loving feelings toward you right now."
Would you call that love? Of course not! You would most certainly
call that something other than love--maybe cruelty, apathy, or hatred. Yet so
often we define love as some nebulous emotion or sentimental words when in
reality, love is so much more than feelings. Love is primarily manifested
through action. Love is something you do.
I think the picture is clear (and drama) enough. God demonstrated love in action by sending His son, to be crucified and to die for our sins so we might be reconciled to Him.
James mentioned in James 2:14-26 about how faith without deed is dead.
If you profess to love God, His commands, His people, then don't stop at just proclaiming it, demonstrate it as God has done, with love and not as actions without love.
Be it uttering a prayer for someone who is in need, helping someone, going on missions, big or small, show your love for God and His people through your actions, actions filled with love.
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