We live in a culture that treats love like it is some sort of feeling. The Bible treats love like evidence.
Think about this for a moment. If I tell my wife I love her but never spend time with her, never sacrifice for her, never serve her, never listen to her, and never show up when she needs me, would anyone believe I love her? Of course not. Neither would she.
This is because love is not proven by what we say, rather, love is proven by what we do.
Yet somehow, we have convinced ourselves that declaring love is the same thing as demonstrating it.
Breaking news flash here- It isn't.
In fact, if love cannot be seen, measured, experienced, or demonstrated, how could anyone know it exists?
This is exactly why God did not merely announce His love from heaven. He demonstrated it.
Anyone can say, "I love you." Love is only proven when it costs something. And sometimes that cost can be one thing deeply, or a combination of many things- time, money, comfort, convenience, pride, forgiveness, patience, sacrifice...
That is why the cross is the ultimate expression of love. God didn't decide to impersonally just send humanity a letter, He sent His Son. The cross is what love looks like when it becomes visible.
Looking through this lens, this realization is where things begin to get very uncomfortable for us.
Many people say they love God. But love for God is not measured by words. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commands." (John 14:15)
He pointed to obedience, action, and evidence.
Likewise, many people say they love people, thinking that they are keeping one of the greatest commandments, but Scripture asks a dangerous question:
What evidence of this exists?
Would your friends and neighbors know?
Would the lonely know?
Would the poor know?
Would the hurting know?
Would the forgotten know?
Could someone examine your life and conclude that love exists there based solely on your actions? Could you be convicted of this in a court of law, if formally accused?
Because that's exactly how we evaluate everything else. We don't measure generosity by intention, we measure it by giving.
We don't measure faithfulness by promises, we measure it by consistency.
We don't measure courage by words, we measure it by action.
So why should love be any different?
The truth is that love is one of the few things that becomes visible only when it leaves the realm of words and enters the realm of action. Love that remains in the heart blesses no one. Love that remains in the mind changes nothing. Love that remains on the lips convinces few.
But love in action changes lives... this is why the world was transformed by the early church. They didn't simply preach love, they became the evidence of it. And perhaps the most dangerous question a Christian can ask is not: "Do I love people?" But rather: "If nobody could hear the things that I have to say, would they still see my love?"
Remember this... love is not just telling folks that you love them; it’s measurable, provable action. And love is the evidence that Christ is alive in you.
~Devin
Devin Osborne
The Early Church