May 21, 2022

II John 6 (NIV)

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Love has no definition apart from how it looks.*

How would you define love? While we have one English word for all kinds of love, the Greeks were a little more precise in their language. But even knowing that the New Testament differentiates between brotherly love and erotic love and unconditional love, we still are compelled to include feelings in our definition of love.

The apostle John writes a lot about love in his letters. We can trust his credentials as an authority on the subject because he walked and talked with Jesus who was the living embodiment of love. This expert on love tells us that the definition of love is that we walk in obedience to Jesus’ commands – and says not one word about how we should feel about it. From the beginning, John says, the command is that we walk in love.

So how does that make you feel? How often have you done the right thing even though your heart wasn’t quite as engaged as it should have been? Have you ever felt guilty because your charitable actions made you look more saintly than you felt?

I am not suggesting that we can say we are walking in love if our obedience involves a defiant spirit. I am not advocating hypocrisy. I believe that John is telling us that love means honoring the one we love, regardless of how we feel. When my husband needed my assistance with a household project right now, I helped him because I loved him – not because it’s what I wanted to do right then. Or what I felt like doing. Over the years of our marriage I came to realize that the more lovingly I behave, the more loving I feel.

Love Jesus? Prove it. Follow his commands. Someday you will even feel like it.

The test of your love for God isn’t what you do when you’re feeling in love with him. It’s how you live when you don’t feel anything for him at all.*