Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  1 Corinthians 13:1

This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.    John 15:12

So I’m sitting in a class that I’m facilitating to 30 folks from an industrial organization.  Many of the people are trades people in jeans and t-shirts with various sayings on them; non Christian.  We have a guest speaker come in to talk about the status of the organization and why it needs to improve.  He is equivalent to a Chief Financial Officer for the organization.  He is in charge of the money.  He first speaks of facts and figures but even within that talk he is stressing the people impact.  He then sums up by discussing that there is no more important action than how people treat each other.  How much they care for each other.  He tells them to ask themselves a question:  “Do they love each other?”  Do they understand the power that love has.  Throughout his presentation he used words like blessing and faith and to me he showed he was a person of faith.  Now you might think he had not analyzed his audience well to make such comments to this group.  Yet after he had finished, I have never had so many people come up and tell me how powerful the speaker was and how much they were inspired by him.

He showed it and he spoke it…………the words of love.   Jesus makes it very plain.  He calls it the second great commandment.  That we love each other as we love ourselves.  He gave the commandment to the disciples:  to love one another as they had been loved by Him.  How often do we use the language of love to each other today?  Oh sure the “L” word may seem common in speech.  We talk about loving a movie, a particular food or that special car in the drive way.  We use love as descriptor or something we wish to do…..”I’d love to do this or that”……   We even talk about “making love” which in today’s vocabulary describes an act where love lasts only as long as it takes to get into and then out of bed.   A word can be used in many ways without expressing its true meaning.

When speaking of the love of a person how often do we think of the sacrificial context as the Samaritin on the road.  When telling someone we love them, how often are we expressing that I am willing to sacrifice all that I can to see you succeed?  How often do I withhold the words of love until I believe they are justified by some action or worth instead of humbly accepting a person for who they are; God’s creation, just like me and so worthy of agape, love without judgement.

As you read the bible, ponder the effects of these kinds of love.  David, though persecuted and hunted by Saul, loved him enough not to take revenge on him for the wrongs committed, and David became the greatest of earthly kings.  The disciples because they first loved each other, worked together to bring the greatest change to our planet, the teaching and preaching of the Good News across the then known world, that continues until today.  Jesus Christ, with His love for each and every one of us, sacrifices himself so that we may have a path of forgiveness and righteousness to Our Heavenly Father, even when we are undeserving sinners.

True words of love have power beyond measure.  The are first and foremost the words of our Heavenly Father.  As such, when spoken in that manner, they are words that can not be disputed.  They are words that bring healing and hope, strength and joy both to the hearers and the speakers.  Find someone each day to which you can speak those words.  And don’t forget to speak them to yourself.

May Jesus be praised in all we do.  Amen