Love

By Brian Pusateri | February 14, 2012 | | Share on Facebook

Today this email is reaching nearly a thousand more people than just a week ago. I want to welcome all of my new readers. God put the ministry of these 4th Day Letters on my heart as a way to inspire and motivate Christian leaders into action in a world that is sorely yearning for the Good News of Jesus Christ. I hope you find these words useful on your spiritual journey. All of my past emails are available on my websitesimply click here. I encourage you to share these emails with others. May God’s blessing be with you today and always.

Over the last three weeks I have written about Piety, Study and Action. Piety is an act of our heart; through piety we communicate with God. Study is an act of intelligence; through study we come to know more about both ourselves and about God. Then through Piety and Study we are compelled into action, and not just any action but true Apostolic Action, the action of bringing Christ to others. The bringing of Christ to others in love is true love and that is today’s topic, LOVE.

Our apostolic action will be much more effective if it is done with true love or the desire to serve others. St. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 13: 3-4, “If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned, but have not loved I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish.”

So where did we get this call to apostolic action? We were commanded by Jesus to action…to love. John 13: 34-35“I give you a new commandment – to love one another. Just as I have loved you – you are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciple – if you have love for one another.”

Jesus freely gave his love to us, so that we in turn could bring his love to others. John 15: 13says it his way, “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” Paul adds even more emphasis on Christ’s love for us when he says in Romans 5: 7-8 “It is rare that anyone should lay down his life for a just man, though it is barely possible that of a good man someone may have the courage to die. It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us; that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So it is clear how much God love us. John 3: 16“Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” So as the three parts of our tripod, piety, study action come into clearer focus, we must be asking ourselves about this apostolic action we are being called to. How do we carry out our call to love?

Christian movements like Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Via de Cristo or Kairos, tell us how to do this. We are not called to simply teach the Good News. No, rather we are called to live it. In my previous email on Kerygma we read “People of our day are more impressed by witnesses than by teachers, and they listen to teachersbecause they are witnesses.” We, in fact, are called to nothing less than to become the Good News by how we love others.

In closing lets look at Jesus’ own words to us. John 14:21“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Wow! Isn’t that what all mankind yearns for- that Jesus may reveal Himself to us.

What can we expect if we spend our life in pursuit of trying to love others as Christ has loved us? 1 Cor. 2:9 “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Questions:

  • In order to truly share the love of Christ with others we must truly know Him. Do I set aside time daily for piety and study, time to communicate and know myself and God?
  • Today, who is God calling me to love more deeply?
  • Am I responding to God’s call to love others as He has loved me?
Brian Pusateri
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