Living by love

“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”
-Proverbs 3:3

If you had to pick a word that would sum up your behavior, thoughts, and motives for a day, what would that word be? If there were a sign around your neck with a word that summed up your motivation and desire, what would it be? Greed? Lust? Gossip? Anger? Despair?

What moves you? What drives you? What motivates you? What keeps you going during the day?

The world tells you to chase after money, sex, and power. Goodness, even some churches tell you to do chase these things. They will tell you to chase whatever makes you happy, no matter what it does to others.

The Bible tells us to love.

Wear that love around your neck so that everyone can see it openly, and so that you can be reminded of it in every turn. Write it on your heart so that every thought is just dripping with love and truth.

Love. That’s the whole thing. Jesus summed up the entire Word of God with two commands: Love God, and love people (see Matthew 22:34-40).

“Faithfulness” can also be translated as “truth.” How wonderful this word is. It tells us to love with a love that hides nothing, and never fails.

How does that sound? Does this sound like something you would want as your driving force, your motivation? Does this sound like something you would want guiding your every thought?

Maybe not. Maybe you are comfortable looking out for yourself. But what if God was like us? What if He only looked out for Himself, was only motivated by greed, selfishness, and anger? How would He respond to us? How would He respond to an ungrateful creation that only looked out for itself and refused to follow Him?

He wouldn’t react the way we would want, I’m willing to bet. Thanks be to God that He is motivated more by love. In love He sent His Son to die for us, that our sins might be forgiven on the Cross. In love He offers to forgive us by the Blood of Jesus. In love He wants us to live forever with Him, even though we don’t deserve it. In love He asks for nothing in return, but only that we repent and believe in Jesus.

Let love fill me, overflow, and never stop pouring out, for love has saved me from certain death, and so I will never mock love again.