16. Walk in love…
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:1-2
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:16
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 4:12
What does it mean to walk in the way of love? To lay down our lives in love? Both Paul and John, in their letters to early Christians, point to the example of Jesus who literally laid down his life to bring salvation to mankind.
Today, whilst we still point to the example of Jesus as the ultimate example of love that gave all, we also have what the writer of Hebrews refers to as a great cloud of witnesses. These are those who have gone before us as shining examples of laying down their lives in love. People who have taken the risks in love, have gone out on a limb to walk in the way of love.
People like Martin Luther King who stood up against the oppression of black people in southern USA, or John Newton, writer of the hymn, Amazing Grace, who fought against the slave trade. Mother Teresa who gave up a life of privilege to serve the terminally ill dispossessed people in Calcutta, India. The list goes on…
But what about in your own neighbourhood, in your church? I have often been on the receiving end of those who walk in love. When I lost my mother and father-in-law within a week of each other and found myself organising back-to-back funerals. I received cards, flowers, meals, and so many more expressions of sacrificial love. One, in particular, will stay with me for a long time – a dear and long-time friend just walked up to me the week after my mother died and, with no words at all, enveloped me in a huge hug that told me how deeply I was loved. That hug, which went on for minutes, enabled me to let go of the grief that I was holding in and brought release. Our church has a month each year that we call ‘love, love” month when we go out of our way to express extravagant love in our worlds.
God had given to us the greatest example of love we could ever hope for and now he calls on us to walk in that love through our day-to-day worlds.
Prayer: Lord, I confess that my walk in love tends to wax and wane a bit and I find myself busied out of love. I miss opportunities to show love. I ignore opportunities to show love because I am afraid or they are inconvenient. Forgive me, Lord. May your Spirit touch mine and spur me on to random acts of love that will touch the lives of those around me.
Amen
Action: Today, be open to the opportunities to walk in love through your day – be prepared to be inconvenienced, challenged, and to “lay down your life” for others in love.
Journal your thoughts…
