Loving One Another

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have 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 ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12 ESV). It’s that time of year when stores are filled with beautiful red hearts, chocolates, balloons, greeting cards and all kinds of things that say, “I love you.” The commercialization of the need to feel loved and to love another is truly something that has long escaped my understanding. The reason it escapes me is simply because of the incredible availability of the deepest, most profound love imaginable. Our reading today declares that love. God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us. That’s love!

I also understand that sometimes we need a little more substantial feeling of love. As the little girl in the often told story said, “I need God with skin on.” It hardly seems possible that it has been three years since Mary went by the recue site and found a little terrier to bring home. “Teddy” came home with us and made himself at home immediately. The vet told us that he was “mostly” a Norfolk Terrier. The operative word has come to be “terrier.” His endless energy and need to be a part of whatever you’re doing has quickly endeared him to us. He likes to play, though his favorite activity is sitting in your lap to be petted. I find there’s a little “Teddy” in all of us. Whether it's because you're in the wrong relationship, or the right relationship that's been left unattended, sometimes people take love for granted. But there's no real relationship without love, and not feeling loved really hurts. I'm not saying that love is all there is to a relationship. In fact, in a lot of cases, love is the "easy" part — it's compatibility and longevity that take work. But love, and feeling loved, is essential. It's the only thing that's going to push you to work through the hard times. Even if you don’t have a sweetheart this Valentine’s Day, perhaps you can think of someone who could benefit from an expression of love from you. Just think, there may be someone in your life who won’t be hugged or told someone loves him or her if you don’t take the initiative. And don’t forget the deepest love has been poured out into your life. That allows us to both hear and say “I love you.”