Something To Talk About

“I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you... (Eph 1:15, 16a)”

Their reputation preceded them. News had spread. Paul had heard. Apparently the Ephesians loved in such a way that others took notice. I wonder what they had done. Did they financially support others? Had they clothed the cold, fed the famished, adopted the abandoned? Did they weep with the grieving and dance with the happy? Had they labored to build faith into each other? Perhaps they had done all of this and more. Regardless, Paul, though living many miles away, had heard of their love.

Reading this has me thinking about my own life. Can anyone say they have heard of my love for all Christians? Or even a few? Does the way I love make people talk? It should. But ashamedly, I don’t think it does.

Many of us know that Jesus commands us to love each other, and to do so in such a way that others notice. In fact He says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). He couldn’t speak any clearer. The way the world will know we follow Him is by the way we love. That means we cannot love from the confines of our homes and with lip-service. We must learn to love those we encounter daily and to do so in deed.

Christ calls us to His way of loving (Eph 5:1, 2; Phil 2:5-7). It’s a self-sacrificing love. It’s a love that requires us to deny ourselves for the welfare and benefit of another. Jesus denied Himself paradise and unbroken fellowship with the Father in order to come to us and take our sins upon Himself. In this same way we ought to love each other. Sadly, I more often deny others love in order to serve myself, to secure my comfort, safety, and money.

But I want to follow Jesus, so I’m learning to lay down my own desires. I’m learning to look at the needs in my church, neighborhood, work, home, and places of play. And as I see, I’m seeking out how I might meet these needs with the resources God has given me. Christ met our need through His death, and He wants us to do the same for each other.

So maybe we deny ourselves a few meals at a restaurant in order to buy ingredients to bake bread for the elderly and lonely people in our neighborhoods. Or maybe we deny ourselves a relaxing Saturday in order to labor for the fatherless in our church by mowing their yard, building a fence, providing home maintenance help. Or perhaps we deny ourselves relaxing in front of the television in order to write encouraging cards or make phone calls to the hurting. If we aren’t denying ourselves for the welfare of another we aren’t following Christ.

And as we love, people will start talking, and more importantly, see Christ. We are mere disciples. We look to and learn from a Master greater than us. The fact that we can love sacrificially testifies to the work of His Spirit in us.

So in this day where news can spread across the world in seconds, is anyone talking about the way you or I love others, especially our family in Christ? If we look at our lives and see a lack of love then perhaps we need to travel down Calvary’s road and meet our Savior hanging on a cross. As we meditate on God’s great love toward us in Christ, let us emulate that same love to the people we work with, sit in pews with, live at home with. Let’s give them something to talk about. How about love?