Love With Actions

I was reading in 1 John the other day when I came across an interesting verse:

"Dear children, let us not love with words or with tongue but with actions and in truth." -1 John 3:18

As I read those words, I realized the deep reality of their simplicity.

It often seems as though loving with actions is the most insignificant thing we can do.
When I love someone, I want to tell them all of the reasons why.
When someone I love is hurting, I always wish I had words that would help "fix" it and make them happy again.
Even just through my social media, I enjoy writing encouraging posts as a way of sharing Christ's love with everyone.

Words have always just been my conscious go-to when I want to show love.

But as I thought about it more and more, I thought about all of the times where I've felt the most loved.

I thought about when I was going through my first personal experience with grief this past winter.
There were so many wonderful people who said so many amazing things to me during that time that really helped me... But the things that meant the most to me, and were the reasons I was able to get through it, were the people who didn't really know what to say.

The people who sent flowers to the visitation even though they didn't know her.
The people who showed up at the visitation just to give me a hug and be there with me.
The person who dropped everything they were doing to take me out to lunch on the day she died because they didn't want me to be alone.
The person who came over to my house with dinner and chocolates the night she died so my siblings and I wouldn't have to be alone while our parents were at the hospice house. 
The people who let me cry, grieve, or reminisce, weeks and months after it happened, and who still allow me to do it when I need to even though most people feel like I should be "over it" by now.

The people who love with actions are the ones who show me the most glimpses of God's love.

And as I thought about this more, I realized that that's the kind of love that I want to show the world.

I still firmly believe that showing love through words is wonderful and powerful, but I challenge all of us to expand upon that. 

Let's sit with the people who don't have a friend group to join. 

Let's pay for someone else's meal (providing you can of course).

Let's give our friend a phone call or FaceTime just to listen when they say they're having a bad day.

Let's smile at a stranger.

Let's offer the last slice of pizza to our sibling instead of eating it ourselves (super tough one, I know).

Instead of simply telling the people we love that we love them, let's show them.


Because THAT is the kind of love that is going to change this world. Not just telling them about our God, but showing them. 

In fact, really... Showing them is how we should tell them. 

Let's love with actions.