I just wrapped up teaching a series on Justice in Everyday Life. Woven through each lesson and every discussion was this common theme of love in action. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is imperative that our words match our actions and our actions match our words.

1 John 3:18 says, “Let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.”

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I was so impressed by one commercial during the Super Bowl this year. I loved New York Life’s campaign on Agape. Being a part of the Emmaus Community, I am familiar with agape.

Agape is love in action.

I have witnessed this ‘agape’ kind of love before. Many years ago, my husband’s mother became sick. After a few days, it was evident that she would not survive. We knew it and she knew it as well. She admitted to him that she was afraid. Not mindful of anything but his mother, my husband would not leave her side. He held her hand for hours, until she passed. We had been so caught up in this life-changing event that we didn’t even realize what day it was.

Later that night, I hugged my husband and told him how sorry I was that his mom had died on his birthday. His response was, “My mom went to heaven on my birthday.  Jesus took her hand from mine and walked her into Heaven! What an awesome gift.” That is powerful! That is love in action!

Agape is a courageous kind of love, one that will sacrifice for you, if need be. I saw that love in my husband. And, Jesus had that same love for us when he gave up his life so that we might live. This is love in action. You can see and you can feel.

1 Corinthians 13  (AMP) says;  “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not ^[a]love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. ² And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. ³ If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body ^[b]to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.”

It’s our love for others where God’s love is seen.

When’s the last time you saw or experienced this agape kind of love? When’s the last time you gave it? God’s sacrificial love is all around us. We just need to look for it.

Let us pray; God of love, pour out on us your perfect love, so that we may in turn love others. In Jesus’ name, Amen. -M