Keeping Love Simple

“You are My followers if you love one another.” John 13:35 NCV

“Genuine love for others is the inarguable evidence of God in your life.”

My thoughts today are about “keeping love simple.”

Do you find yourself complicating things unnecessarily? I seem to! Life cannot possibly be as complex as some people tend to make it to be. Life should be natural to you, not such hard work. I think we get most things backwards. What should be natural to us isn’t. Love should not be so hard to do. Children love instinctively. They have to learn to quarrel and fight. I think they learn by listening and watching adults model such difficulty at getting along with each other.

Children play outside my office window. I especially love to watch the kindergarten students at our Academy running and playing. They have so much energy and carefree joy. Jesus loved to watch children at play (Luke 7:32 NLT), and had time for them when others tried to shoo them away, Jesus said “Bring them to Me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 19:14 NKJV. Jesus said to His followers, “Except you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 18:1-5 NIV.

When life was simpler for you, you had energy and joy. It isn’t age that changes you; it is complexity. Adults can’t run just for the fun of it. Adults have more important things to do and too little time to do them. And when we do calendar time for that we turn play into work, forming teams to compete so we can declare winners and losers. When you or your team wins, you have fun; when you lose, not so much. No wonder we have forgotten how to run and play with carefree abandon.

Love is like life in that way, simple and easy when it flows naturally but difficult when you make it into work. To Jesus, love was simple, “You are My followers if you love one another.” John 13:35 New Century Version. The more closely you walk with Jesus the more easily you can follow His example, and the more natural your love becomes. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” John 13:35 NLT. Genuine love for others is the inarguable evidence of God in your life.

Love is mistakenly thought of as something that a person does, an action or certain kind of behavior. But could love possibly be more than that? The Bible describes God this simply, “God is love!” Read 1 John 4:8/16 NIV. Love is God’s character, not just His conduct. Yes, God loves in very tangible and sacrificial ways – exactly because He embodies love. God’s love is not His response to anyone or anything; Love is an initiative of God’s character expressing His nature.

When teaching on love many years ago, I summed up my understanding of real love in these words, “Love to be authentic must be practical and observable.” I have found that description undeniably and consistently accurate. Practical and observable acts of love will not themselves make one’s inauthentic love authentic, though it may appear to be so to others; however, authentic love will make your expression of love practical and observable. People know when they are loved, and they know when they are not, just as they did when they were children.

My prayer for you today is that your love for God and others is unmistakably real.