“What’s Love Got to Do with It?”
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“What’s Love Got to Do with It?”
By: Pastor David Grove
September 1, 1984, may not mean much to you but it meant everything to Tina Turner. This was the day that her hit song, “What’s Love Got to Do with It” went to number one for thee weeks on America’s Pop Charts. This was her only solo number one hit song that she had but she left a legacy in the music field with that heart pumping, heart pounding song. So, what’s the point and what does this have to do with my Christian walk? Just as the song is all about emotion, our culture today has twisted the true meaning of what love is really all about. When you read the Bible and when you look at the words love, loves and loved they are mentioned, over six hundred times in most translations. But there is a stark difference of how the world defines love and how God defines love. Many times, as you are reading about love in the Bible, it is not as an emotion but as an action. Sorry guys, you heard me right. Love is not emotion but action. If you only say you love someone and do not put any action behind it, your words don’t mean anything. We can see this clearly throughout scripture. 1 John 3:16 states; “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Notice the very first words, “This how we know what love is”. This is setting the stage for us to have no more doubt about what love is. So, what is it? It’s the action of what Jesus did for us, “He laid down His life for us.” Jesus not only was saying that He loved us, but He took action to show us how much He loves us by dying upon the cross willingly.
Now notice what Jesus continued to say. He made it very clear that we can know without any shred of doubt how much He loves us because of the sacrifice that He made for us. Now John switches it up, because we now know what love truly is, we have no excuse that we can’t show this love towards others. John isn’t saying that we have to die on a cross to let someone know how much we love them, but he is making the bold statement that you better put action to show that your love is real and true.
Webster’s Dictionary defines love as; “A deep, tender feeling of affection, or attachment”. Simply it’s all about emotion. The Bible defines love as an action. The type of love that John speaks of in 1 John 3 is the same kind of love that is seen in John 3:16. In Hebrew the word is “ahava” which is a sacrificial love, meaning “to give”. The Greek meaning is “agape”. This is a sacrificial, unconditional love. Simply, this is the type or kind of love that only God can give and only God can show.
In Matthew 22 a religious leader who was well versed in the scriptures asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?”. 37 Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Notice that Loving God with your everything is the greatest commandment, but we see Jesus saying that the second is like it. Jesus is simply saying that if we Love God with our everything then we should in turn love others the same way. Once again, if we set back and say all day long, “I Love God” but do not show this love to others, they are just words. There is no difference if we say we love our fellow Christians yet gossip about them, turn them away when they need help whether physically or spiritually, if we do not put action to our love, they are just words.
John say’s, “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”, (1 John 3:17). Take notice the importance that is made on us as Christians being a help to others especially other Christians and he states that if we are not helping, if we are not having compassion than “the love of God is not in that person.”. Do you know what that means? It means that if the love of God is not in the person who professes to be a Christian then that person is not a Christian. I know that is a hard hitting and direct statement but once again we can see that Biblical love is about action not emotion.
Many Christians don’t realize that one of the greatest ways that we can be a living testimony for the Lord is by putting our love into action. Look at what Jesus say’s, “34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35). Notice, Jesus didn’t say a new suggestion I give you, He said “a new command I give you.”
We are called whether you like it or not to “Love one another.” We must not only love one another, but we must love each other in the manner in which Jesus loved us. How did Jesus love us? He loved us in action by dying upon the cross for us. He doesn’t mean that we must do this for each other, but He is saying that we must love each other in a sacrificial and selfless manner. He then say’s if we do this, “everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Friend, everyone means everyone. The believer to the non-believer, the agnostic to the atheist. If you want people to come to trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this is the answer. Like the old saying, “here’s your sign.” Let’s start loving like Jesus and put action to our love. You can begin doing this today in your own life by keeping, “JESUS FIRST In ALL THINGS”,
With JOY In JESUS,
Pastor David