And the greatest thing is

Surely we would uphold what scripture says is the greatest thing...namely, love. To obey Christ and do his works, love is essential. Pastor and author Jerry Cook offers this definition of love: “Brother, sister, I want you to know I’m committed to you. You’ll never knowingly suffer at my hands. I’ll never say or do anything, knowingly, to hurt you. I’ll always in every circumstance seek to help you and support you. If you’re down and I can lift you up, I’ll do that. Anything I have that you need, I’ll share with you; and if need be I’ll give it to you. No matter what I find out about you and no matter what happens in the future, either good or bad, my commitment to you will never change. And there’s nothing you can do about it. You don’t have to respond. I love you, and that’s what it means.”

What I appreciate about this statement is that having love is not the goal – it is expressing love that matters. We all uphold the idea of love, but in the end God will weigh our deeds of love (Jeremiah 17:9, 10). Also, if you’ve read it carefully, then I imagine like me you see the frightening implications of such a statement. I’m deeply attracted to the idea of receiving this love...but scared by the implications of giving it.

The good news – this love is the fruit of God’s Spirit working in our lives (see Galatians 5:22): it is not our work to produce this love for its source is God. BUT we do need to make a stand in faith and say; “I accept this is the love commitment of every believer, and therefore one I need to make in obedience to Christ, so I will trust God to empower me to produce deeds of love.”

Yes, I’m scared by the commitment, but greater is my excitement growing in this so I’m standing in faith to make this love commitment to you. Are you keen to do the same?​