I am the smaller of three siblings so I grew up as the baby of the family. As a small child my mother used to cuddle me a lot, and I would react making these wonderful declarations of love, saying “I love you mom!”, or “You are the best mom in the world!”, and also “There is no mother like you!”
Once, as I was making one of these declarations, my mother said: “since you love me, can you please clean the dishes for me?” To which I replied: “I don’t love you that much!” Later on I grew up to understand that love must express itself beyond words, it must also include corresponding actions.
Many times we answer God’s requests in the same way I did to my mom. God requires something from us but we tell Him: “I love you God, but not that much!”.
When we truly love someone, the interests of the loved one become our interests and we are moved to do something that goes beyond our words. We read in the New Testament that three times Jesus asked if Peter loved him and three times Peter replied positively, to which Jesus told him, then take care of my flock.
If we love God, his interests become our own and when we act on it we find our reason for living. Certainly to attend a church and to hear the Word of God is good for us, for we learn how much God loves us and we can declare how much we love him, but if they stay at that we miss out on being part of his mission.
God calls us to express our love for him through concrete actions towards others, all the others, including our own enemies.
- How do your actions towards others express your love for God?
- What are the interests of God that you still need to act upon?
(Love beyond words, 1 John 3:16-18 / Love for all, Luke 6:32-35)