Love: Worship In Action

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:7-12

What does it mean to love someone? What do we mean when we say to another “I love you?”

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of “love”—”to hold dear; cherish”—does not help us much. All we get from the dictionary is a shift from “what does it mean to ‘love’?” to “what does it mean ‘to hold dear’?” We get no closer to a real understanding of love simply by consulting a dictionary.

Leviticus 19:18, the source for Jesus’ second of the two Great Commandments, sheds some light on the question. If we expand to include verse 17 as well, we begin to get a picture of what the verb “to love” actually means.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

From this we can see that, at a minimum, if we love someone we do not harbor any hatreds towards them. We do not bear any grudges. We do not nurture any insults, real or imagined.

Jesus Himself adds a bit more to that picture in the Sermon on the Mount as relayed in Matthew:

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

What does it mean to love someone?

It means that if we have something outstanding with that person—some unfinished business, some lingering grievance, some words left unsaid—we need to address it. It means we need to resolve whatever it is that stands between us and that other person.

What do we mean when we say to another “I love you?”

We mean we will actively work to be at peace with them at the very least. We mean we will reach out to them. We mean we will communicate with them, and we will work at communicating with them.

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats adds another dimension:

“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

This passage leaves very little to doubt but that we are all called to be generous and caring and compassionate to all people. As we are called to be generous and caring and compassionate to all people, would we not do much, much more than this for those we specifically profess to love?

What does it mean to love someone?

It means we are called to care for them, and care about them. It means we are called to extend ourselves on their behalf. It means we are called to sacrifice on their behalf.

What do we mean when we say to another “I love you?”

We mean we make their needs our needs. We mean that being mindful of their needs is important to us. We mean that we will be there to support them, care for them, and care about them.

Is this not also what we mean when we say “God loves us”? Consider:

God has always communicated with us. When we pray, when we retreat to the quiet place, we can yet hear Him in our hearts. If we are mindful and watchful, we can see that He puts signposts in our path, marking the way we are meant to go.

God most definitely cares for us, and cares about us. God gave us His Law, that we might know right from wrong, and good from evil, and that we might be able to choose right over wrong, good over evil.

God has repeatedly extended Himself on our behalf. God gave us the prophets, that we might be reminded in our times of weakness what it means to be righteous and godly. The Exodus story is ever a tale of God working large miracles and small to sustain His chosen people. The Bible further relates to us how God spoke to Samuel, and how He spoke to Elijah. The Bible relates to us how He appeared to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.

God has unquestionably sacrificed on our behalf—literally. God sent His only begotten Son into the world to stand as the perfect sacrifice, an atonement offered up for the sins of all mankind for all time, opening the way towards redemption and forgiveness of us all.

From the beginning of the Creation, God has shown His love through actions. As God shows His love for mankind through actions, it is only fitting and appropriate that we show also our love for each other through actions. It is only fitting and appropriate that we regard love as more than just a word, but a calling unto itself.

Thus we can see that to genuinely love another person is itself godly. When we love, when we act out of love, we honor God, and the many acts of love God has made on our behalf.

When we genuinely love another person, when we open our hearts to another and act accordingly, we are by definition worshipping God, for to honor God is to worship God. To do what God calls us to do is to worship God. Even if we never speak of God directly, if we genuinely love any other person, we are keeping God’s Law, and we are worshipping God.

Thus, as there is no higher calling than to worship God, so there can be no higher calling than to genuinely love others. We are meant to genuinely love one another, and we are meant to genuinely be loved by others.

When we are fortunate enough to love another, and be loved by that other person, we should rejoice not just twice but three times, for that chance to love and be loved is also the chance to worship God directly and actively.

When we are fortunate enough to love another, and be loved by that other person, we are answering God’s highest and most precious calling—to worship Him—for what else can love be but the worship of God in action?