College (American) football is a big deal in the South. I grew up in the southern part of the United States, and I went to a very large state school for college. Every Saturday in the fall was dedicated to football. Droves of people would emerge to our sleepy college town, ready to cheer on our team. I would dress up every Saturday in my school’s colors and make my way to the football stadium.
Not only did I have a student ID that would get me into the stadium, but I looked the part. By the way that I was dressed, people around me knew that I belonged to the fanbase of my school.
Though this is a silly example, it is a great picture of what it looks like to belong to and be identified with a specific group of people. The same is true in our spiritual life.
Paul writes at the end of Ephesians 4 of ways that our lives are to be marked so that we are easily identified with Jesus Christ. The way we are easily identified as a Christ-follower is by the way that we love.
Why Love Matters
Love is one of the central characteristics of who God is. Everything He does is out of His holiness and love in the Trinity and for His creation.
Even when Adam and Eve chose to go their own way and introduce sin into the world, God chose to provide for them by making coverings for their nakedness (Genesis 3:21). He also displayed His love when He promised to send a Rescuer who would crush the head of the serpent and bring redemption to all people (Genesis 3:15).
The love of God is what led Jesus to leave His eternal home in heaven to come to earth, take on flesh, experience the fullness of humanity, live a perfect life, and sacrificially die on the cross for our sins.
It’s because of God’s love that He offers grace and mercy for those who would seek His forgiveness and trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ. It’s in this love that our sin, shame, and death is exchanged for redemption, freedom, and life.
This love is unlike anything that we can experience or fathom on earth. Even in our best, loving relationships, missed expectations, hurts, and betrayal still occur. But the love we experience from God is nowhere close to the same level of the love of another human.
God’s love is perfect, and it changes everything about our everything when we experience it.
How Love Is Displayed
For those who have trusted in Jesus, we not only experience the love of God, but we are to mirror this love to those around us.
This is not merely being kind to others or keeping a smile on our face. It begins deep in our hearts, knowing the depths to which we have been forgiven. When we understand this, it gives us a new lens by which to view and interact with the world.
We’re enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to see others as also in desperate need of a Savior. We’re more apt to lend forgiveness and grace. We’re willing to go the extra mile in service. We seek reconciliation with those who have hurt us. Our conduct, speech, and thoughts are markedly different from the rest of the world.
This doesn’t mean that it is always easy to extend love, especially to those who have hurt us. In these moments when love is hard, we must remember the truths of the gospel.
If God can look at our wretched, broken hearts and still offer forgiveness through faith, then we can turn to the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the same to others. After all, it is the power of Christ that dwells in believers through the Holy Spirit.
When your flesh tells you that extending love is impossible, look to the cross and remember the great lengths to which love pursued you.
Believers have been called to join God in His mission to seek and save the lost, and it begins by the way that we love.
The Result of Our Love
When Jesus lived on earth, His love for others drew people in. He sought out those who were on the fringes of society who were viewed as unworthy or unlovable.
The result of His love was mixed. People who were hurting and lost trusted in Jesus. Those who were the most “qualified” to understand God’s love turned away from Him. They couldn’t understand why His love was not limited for certain people.
When we live our lives marked by the love of Christ, we, too, will more than likely see mixed results. The goal of our love is to show others what Jesus is like and to share the gospel with them. But this does not guarantee that everyone will respond as we hope.
In the moments when we’re trying to do the right thing and love others with little to no favorable response, we can remember that we are in good company. Our Savior understands and tells us to continue living with love.
We never know what God is doing in a person’s heart and life. It could be that we are planting a seed that the Lord will allow other believers to build on later in order for a person to meet Christ.
We may never see the result of our love, but we also could see the result right away. You could be the answered prayer that God uses to turn a person’s heart toward Christ.
No matter what result you may see, keep going. We live in a hurting world desperate for hope. The love of Christ transforms and renews, and He’s calling you to be His ambassador.
