Putting Love Into Action

Based on Matthew 25:34-40

As servants of Jesus Christ, we are compelled to follow Him not only in word, but in character, and that character is love. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

True love is not just something we feel true love is something we obey. When we enter into a new relationship with God through Christ, obedience becomes the evidence of that relationship. Love always reveals itself through action.

So our experience with Christ compels us to put love into action, not because we are working for our salvation, but because God has already saved us. Since we have been redeemed, we now live in obedience to whatever He commands.

In Scripture, we see love in action expressed through compassion by those whom God has declared righteous. Let us consider the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 25.

In this passage, those who cared for “the least of these” are commended by the King, because without even realizing it, their service to others was actually service to Christ Himself.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:34–40:

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me…Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Here Jesus identifies people who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned people in real, painful, and vulnerable conditions. And He says that how we respond to them is how we are responding to Him.

The righteous did not recognize that they were serving Christ, because their compassion was not performative it was natural, flowing from hearts shaped by love.

They:

• Fed the hungry

• Gave drink to the thirsty

• Welcomed the stranger

• Clothed the naked

• Cared for the sick

• Visited those in prison

Making this Scripture a reality requires us to share God’s heart toward our neighbor. When your neighbor hurts, you feel compassion. When they are hungry, you feed them. When they are sick, you care for them. When they are imprisoned, you do not forget them.

As Christians, we are mandated to love one another and love is only fully expressed when it moves us to action. So the real question becomes: Where is your love? Is it only in what you say, or is it seen in what you do?

When we love like this, we are walking in love just as God did for us, He activated His love when He gave His only begotten Son as a living sacrifice on the cross. God did not just say He loved us. God showed us. And now, He calls us to do the same. Show others the same love God showed us.