www.bible.com/1713/eph.5.1-2.csb
Many talk about love, but fewer experience it. Men are often mocked for refusing to say “I love you” to their ladies because that leads to marriage. The idea goes that women are more likely to tell their significant others that they love them, while their male counterparts hesitate. There is truth here, for love is a powerful word with powerful implications. To love, as a man would understand it, is commitment. Commitment is sacrifice. For a man who isn’t ready to “settle down” commitment carries a great deal more weight.
Our text today brings with it that same weighty commitment, for to love as God’s child is to love as Christ loved. Jesus loves everyone. How do we know this? He died so that everyone might live. He gave His most precious commodity, His own blood, for the benefit of those He loved. This was not a flippant “love you!” cast at someone’s back. This was a fully committed “till death do us part” kind of love.
So the command is clear. If we are to be children of love, walking in love, serving the One who loved us, then our love must imitate His. Our love must be real, not fake. If we show this love to one another, it matters what we say to each other. It matters how we treat each other. If we love, it must cost us something: our time, our effort, and our right to be right among other things.
If you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places, and coming up empty, don’t give up. Jesus loves you like this. His people do too. I encourage you to keep looking until you find it.
God bless you today.
Meritt Musings 