youth devotion – “true love”
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. It a special holiday because it is a day where you are supposed to “initiate actions” to say that you love someone. When I was young, passing out those “Be Mine”, “You’re Cute” or “You’re So Grooovy” cards with candy was very popular. And as I got older, giving heart shaped boxes of chocolates was the best way to express to someone that you loved them.
Initiating acts of love (which means the love expression starts with something you do) towards others can be very fun and easy to do, especially on Valentine’s Day. Over time, we begin to associate initiated actions of goodness and kindness with the love we have for others and most times begin to think that initiated actions of love are the only forms of true love. However, the Bible talks about other forms of love that are just as, if not more, important. I call them “Responding Acts of Love”.
What are Responding Acts of Love?
Responding acts of love are the things you do to express goodness and kindness toward others when they initiate any action (whether good or bad) towards you. In other words, it is how you react to something that is done to you. For example, when your classmate gave you the “You’re Groovy” card, you say “Thank You” or give them a card in return. That’s a responding act of love; someone did something nice for you and you in turn did something nice for them. That is usually also fun and easy to do. However, the type of responding acts of love I want to discuss today is expressing love towards someone after they have initiated bad actions towards you. To me, this is when true love is expressed in its purest form.
As you go through the Bible, it seems like God spends a lot of time instructing us on how to respond when someone does us wrong. It seems like the appropriate and justified action would be to act mean to them too, but that is so far from what God sees as love. Let’s look at some instructions from the Bible on how we should respond when we think others have done us wrong.
Biblical View of Responding Acts of Love
1. Being quick to forgive.
Matthew 6:14-15 – “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
2. Not taking into account the wrong done to you.
1 Corinthians 13:5 AMP –“…it (love) takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].”
3. Not returning an evil for evil.
Matthew 5:38-39 Message – “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.”
4. Speaking kind words in response to harsh words.
Proverbs 15:1 – “A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.”
5. Pray for those who initiate bad actions toward you.
Matthew 5:44-45 Message – I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.
Doing the above mentioned things is what true love really is. Expressing love to someone that is not expressing love towards you is the love of our God. Jesus died for us no matter if we choose to serve Him or not. So, how can you begin to improve your expression of love towards those that are in your life?
