There are many forms of love … and this time of the year you can hardly move without encountering a promotion for some item you should be purchasing and giving to your beloved as a demonstration of your “romantic” love and affection for her or him on February 14th. The world calls it Valentine’s Day … on enLighten, we choose to observe the day by simply calling it the “Day of Love.”
Then there’s agape love … the love that our Lord God showers on us directly and through His son, Jesus the Christ. And, we are expected to love Him in return. As written in Matthew Chapter 22, Jesus is speaking . . . “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
As you’ve heard recited on the air … if you are a regular enLighten listener … the act of “loving your neighbor” translates into making a difference in someone’s life through one or more of these simple gestures:
- A smile
- A listening ear
- A word of comfort or encouragement
- Or a helping hand
From the Scriptures . . .
The Apostle John … writing in Chapter Four of his first epistle, beginning with verse seven, addresses love and how our Lord expects us to be loving toward Him and, as his children, toward others:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”
Finally … the late motivational author and speaker Stephen R. Covey was quoted as saying: “Want to improve your relationships? See Love as a verb rather than a feeling!
NOTE: The LOVE sculpture shown here was created by artist Robert Indiana in the 1960s and, since that time, has been re-produced in massive free-standing form multiple times and can be found in such locations as New York City, downtown Philadelphia, Scottsdale, Arizona, Indianapolis and at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It also appeared in the early 1970’s as one of the first designs of the on-going series of “love” stamps offered by the United States Post Office, priced at eight cents.
Marlin
