(LOVE IS THE SIGN OF THE SAVED)
How does that song go again?
“The sounds are all as different
As the lands from which they came
And though our words are all unique
Our hearts are still the same
Love in any language, straight from the heart
Pulls us all together, never apart
And once we learn to speak it, all the world will hear
Love in any language, fluently spoken here”
Love is, perhaps, both the simplest and the most complex word in every existing human language. It is understood by all, needed by all, longed by all.
To a baby, it is his mother’s arms wound tightly around him.
To a sister, the comfort of her brother in times of fear.
To a father, to hear his child say, “Papa, I am proud of you.”
To a nation, to see its citizens learn from her past and impassioned for her future.
To a planet, to see humanity caring for the fate of its air, its land, its water and its every little creature.
Love. Poems are written about it. Books are dedicated to it. Wars have been lost and won in its name. But to God, love is defined in the most surprisingly simple way.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come , you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:34-35 NIV)
Jesus could have used words that required more spunk to execute, like “For I was hungry and you miraculously multiplied what little food was available and I got fed…” or “You struck a rock and water burst out and gave it to me to drink” or “I was terrible to look at and yet you adopted me.”
But to the God whose love required the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, love was a very simple thing.
Love was service. And serving others – the sign of the saved.
How about you? What does your everyday life story say as you look in the eyes of your child? As you sit beside your brother? As you walk beside your father? As your nation’s history is decided behind the election booths? As your air is suffocated by smog and your streets are buried in candy wrappers thrown out of jeepney windows?
When God looks at the life you lived today, will He be able to say, “Love in any language, fluently spoken here”?
Have you been saved?