love

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”1

It was the best Christmas ever—my family was amazed and felt loved as never before due to my lavish gift-giving. It was also the worst Christmas ever—they discovered I had stolen money from them in order to afford such nice things.

Yeah, that’s right, I stole money from family members so I could buy them some really cool stuff. Made sense to me at the time. Was I generous? Kind of depends on how you look at it. 

One thing seems certain, however: As a teenager I was a lowlife and a thief.

That memory still makes me cringe. I mean, not only is stealing wrong, but stealing from family? I’d be willing to bet that most thieves wouldn’t think about robbing those they love. Others, sure. But family, no way.

Common sense tells us we shouldn’t steal, and especially from family. Not surprisingly, Scripture also tells us we shouldn’t steal from each other. We are, of course, called to love one another, family and non-family.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”2

The Greek word translated as “love” has nothing to do with emotions or feelings. Instead, the word is a verb. That is, we are to consciously and deliberately love one another. We are to consciously and deliberately express our love for others in practical and concrete ways.

For example, it’s not good enough not to steal from them. We’re called, as children of God, to meet the needs of others and consider them more important than us.3 And that includes both family and total strangers. That’s biblical love.

So, does that describe you? Would family describe you as loving? More than that, would total strangers describe you as loving? Remember, the kind of love we’re talking about has nothing to do with emotions or feelings. This kind of love is consciously and deliberately expressing our love for others in practical and concrete ways.

Again, does this describe you? Me neither.

Let’s agree—just between the two of us—that we don’t pull this off, at least as consistently as we should. I have some ideas on what I’m going to do, but how about you?

And remember, it’s not good enough not to steal from them. We’re called, as children of God, to meet the needs of others and consider them more important than us. And that includes both family and total strangers. That’s biblical love.

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”4

1  Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

2  1 John 4:7-8

3  Matthew 22:39 & Philippians 2:3

4  1 John 4:20-21