Loving words that build people up are important. They are only half the picture, though. We must not love just with our words. We need to love with our actions as well.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18 NIV)
James expresses this same thought with a little more detail.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:19-22 NIV)
People can see whether we love them or not. We may choose words that are loving, but when we do not really love the person, our actions will give us away. We ignore. We avoid. We build cliques. We do much, much more. People pick up on our signals and they can tell they are not loved.
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:1-2 NIV)
There are four Greek words that translate into our English word, “love.” One of the four Greek words is specifically used to mean romantic or sexual love. That Greek word (for romantic love) never shows up in the Bible. That’s because the love God calls us to have for one another has nothing to do with romance. As Paul wrote to Timothy, we should love people “with absolute purity.”
So, how about you? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Does it show in your actions? Do you love with absolute purity, as a love for a parent, a brother, or a sister?
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