Show Love part 2
We show God by showing love. Because God IS love. The best way to "preach" the Gospel is by loving the hell out of people. And, in fact, that's what we were created to do. We are the visible expression of the invisible God. Who is, again, love. That's why I like the way the Apostle Paul uses the word "charity" so much. Charity is love is action. We are God's expression of love. His love letter to the world. Look at John 1:14, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Notice two things: 1. The Word was made flesh. Love was put into action. For God so loved the world, He GAVE His only begotten Son. Love isn't just an idea. It isn't just a Word. It is so much more than that. It is God Himself wrapping Himself in human flesh and laying His life down for His friends. That's how the NLT puts it: "So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." A human full of unfailing love and faithfulness. That's who Jesus was, and that's who Jesus is... in us. That's who we are. WE are the one's that God loves, and because He first loved us, we can love Him by loving one another! And the second thing to notice: When the Word was made flesh, or put into action in the form of a human loving other humans, we beheld His glory. He showed us who He is... by loving us. And He showed us who we are... by loving us. And He showed us how to love... by loving us. Remember our verse from yesterday? "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:11). We are His expression. The love comes from Him. He is the Vine, and we are the branches. We don't produce the love through our works and labor. We simply bear the love that He has given us. The love that He IS. The love that WE are! We simply receive it and release it. We simply partake of the fruit of HIS labor--the fruit of the Spirit, which is love... the fruit of the Tree of Life--and share it with those we come into contact with. I'm telling you, the best way (the ONLY way) to show people God is to show them love. Because that's who God is. That's not just what God does. That's His very nature. And He gave that love nature to us when He gave His Holy Spirit to us. When He gave the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of Love), which is righteouesness, peace, and joy IN the Holy Ghost, to us. When He gave His very LIFE to us. Jesus gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. And so that we could then give it FOR each other, and TO each other. That's the greatest expression of love you can have--laying your life down for your friends. That's what Jesus did on the cross. And that's not just what we OUGHT to do for each other, that's what we now CAN do for each other. We can put love into action. We can give everything we are and everything we have. Not in order to get something, but because we have something. Something that the world desperately needs. And if we have it, but don't give it away, how is the world supposed to get it? It's a gift. It can't be earned. It must be given, and it must be received. It must be seen... because it must be shown!