Do Something — The Blue-Collar Bible Scholar

So much of modern Christianity talks endlessly about loving Jesus, but so often tragically misses the mark. Sure they profess that love is a verb, and love is more than an emotion. They often wax theological about ἀγάπη love and the golden rule, but miss one crucial step.

That step is best expressed as: So what? What are you going to do about it? How are you going to change your actions? What practical ways will your life change to match the love of God?

Jesus goes to great lengths to model unconditional love to his followers, and speaks extensively on limitless forgiveness and humble kindness. The critical element in all of this is: He models it. Jesus actually goes and does it; His actions express the love He has. After He walks the walk, only then does he talk about the lofty ideas.

Action is the key, all the good preaching and solid theology in the world is completely pointless without accompanying actions. Love is a pretty abstract concept, and it becomes even more abstract when you try to love someone you can’t see. What we need is a way to move from abstract concept to solid course of action in our tangible reality.

I am a firm believer in the power of the one sentence definition. If you can boil down an abstract concept to a single, concise sentence then you understand it well enough to act on it. This empowers you to almost effortlessly turn ideas into actions.

I get my one sentence definitions from compiling all the relevant scriptures on a topic. I then look for all the recurring ideas or phrases and boil them down into a single, logical sentence. My definition of Love is: a course of action based on what is best for another person.

This is powerful! I can now look at a situation, choose to love someone, and then know exactly how to act on that choice. I choose to do what is “best” for the other person, when I choose to love them. Here, best doesn’t just mean, “what they want,” but rather what allows the most personal growth and safety.

So the question is how can we show love for God? There are two verses that make this a simple answer, Matthew 25:40 and 1John 4:20. The first has Jesus saying that, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” The second says that if you don’t love your brother, you CAN’T love God.

The way you experience, and show your love for God, is by showing the love of God to others. You show this love by taking the course of action in every situation that encourages the other person to grow. You have to follow the Master’s example and show love to everyone, only then can you truly love God.

You can no longer just sit in church and merely say that you love Jesus. You must help your coworker move so you can show the love of Christ. You need to volunteer in your community in literally any way. You can not say that you love Jesus if you rest upon your laurels and do nothing.

How will you show love to Christ tomorrow?

I wish to express my undying gratitude for your focus and attention: THANKS COOL PERSON!

I have more of these cool things on my blog at lead2.live You’re awesome, and you matter a lot.