Love Is As Love Does

Most people believe that Love is equivalent to a pleasant emotion, but it is not!

Readership: All

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Notice that Jesus Christ DID NOT say,

“When I was hungry, you *felt sorry* for Me. When I was naked, you *felt shame* for Me. When I was in prison, you were *embarrassed* for Me. When I was sick, you were *sympathetic* for Me.”

Showing Love to others out of obedience to God is what you DO, and NOT what you feel.

People often blissfully say that they “love” a person (active voice), when in fact, what they really mean to say is that they “feel loved by” that person (passive voice).

I’ve often tried to tell people that being skillful and successful at making others “feel loved” is a much better and more spiritually powerful position than depending on someone else to make you “feel loved“.

When you have the power to make another person feel loved, then, and only then, you can rightfully claim that you really love that person. That said, it is plainly evident that one cannot create love for another, unless he is (1) well-trained in receiving the Love from God, (2) has accepted the grace to love himself, and (3) knows how to draw boundaries to protect the love in his heart from the brutal onslaught by the thieving and destroying powers of this world.

Related

• Sigma Frame: Love Is NOT what you think it is. (October 18, 2014)