We, as Christians talk much about love. It is a distinguishing mark of the Christian faith. Or at least it is supposed to be. Sadly, we too often speak the word love without
associating it with its meaning and even less with its expression. 1 John 3:16-17 opens with exactly that. What is love? The clearest definition is found in the person and work
of Jesus. What is interesting in John’s description, though, is that the definition of love in Jesus is based on inter-relationship with others. Jesus laid down his life for us. Love
does not exist without an effector and an effected. We are the recipient of Jesus’
sacrifice thus the effected of his love. Why does this matter, besides being the very
heart of our faith?

The very next line reminds us that if we claim to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ as Christians, then we ought to lay down our lives for others. As nice as this sounds, this is not a nice truism. Laying down our lives is not our natural inclination. We are taught to lean into self-preservation at all costs. However, the faith we have chosen says that our model is to sacrifice as a demonstration of love. In fact, verse 17 says if we don’t act in this way, how can we claim to have the love of God in us? So, hording material possessions when there are people in need around us (and there are always people in need around us) would be an indication that we don’t actually follow Jesus or love God, but have instead bought into a social club cultural Christianity. The effector and the effected are one in the same when we don’t lay our lives down for others. This is the definition of selfishness. 

Okay, so what if you really are generous? Is that enough to pass the bar of love? 

What if I posited this metric of love: how do you treat others that you disagree with? 

What does laying down your life for your family of humanity (let alone the rest of creation) look like when you don’t like what they stand for? Love gets a little more challenging when it has to stand against our feelings. When we see others and recognize the image of God in everyone then we no longer have the luxury of ignoring their need. Our hearts orientation is to the care for all, a love beyond ourselves. This is the love that God wants reflected by in a Jesus-following community because it tangibly displays the Lord’s character. 

My people, the Choctaw People, have a ceremony that helps us to remember this
principle. We call it the blanket ceremony. Some peoples call it the give away, others
“potlatch.” Regardless, the idea it that we turn our hearts inside out by giving away
rather than holding onto our possessions. Everyone in the community is taken care of by the generosity of the ceremony host and the host, in turn is reminded that love is about more than just themselves.

Family of God, perhaps if we found ways to remind ourselves of what we mean when
we say “we love God” then maybe we could help those observing us to believe that God is truly within us.

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