This past weekend, Pastor Mark read a scripture from John 13. In this passage, Jesus is teaching us to love one another. Loving others is something that comes naturally for some people; but for others, it may be difficult to love and to show love. As I was thinking about my life, I started to think about the ways in which I have felt and shown love. I then began to remember specific situations that allowed me to feel love. After remembering the ways that I express love and experience love, I came up with three things we can do to show our love to others.  

Be Random

My life is pretty structured and I have many routines - this applies to loving my family as well. An example is the times in which I tell my wife and kids that I love them. I tell them at predictable times: when they leave for work or school, before bed, and when one of us leaves the house. But what makes my day is when my kids will randomly say, “Daddy, I love you!”  My daughter will do this the most. She will walk up to me and say, “Hey Daddy.” After hearing these words, I instinctively think she wants something, but then she looks up at me and says, “I love you.”  Genuine acts make people feel loved. Doing random, out of routine things is a great way to show your love. Whether that is telling someone you love them, sending random cards in the mail, sending a “I’m thinking about you” text, or doing something out of the ordinary for them... be random.

Just Listen

I was an assistant principal at a public school and I had a lot of troubled students come into my office. Needless to say, a lot of these students lacked love. More than anything, they lacked the feeling of being loved. One thing that was common among most of these children, if not all, was that they wanted to be heard. So many times, I would simply listen to what they had to say. You could see the relief appear on their faces as they sat and talked. Showing love in these situations just meant listening.

Find Commonalities

Jesus teaches us to love everyone. This means that we need to love people who we don’t know well, and furthermore, to love those people we don’t want to love. How do we do that? By finding something in common between us. I am convinced that there is something that we share in common with most people. It may take some time to discover it, but once it is discovered, we can build a relationship with one another. For example, I may not know you very well but if I find out you went to Purdue University (like me) then that is my “in.” I could talk about Purdue forever! These surface level conversations can start to develop deeper conversations and can be the start of a loving relationship.  

These are three simple ways to show love and start developing loving relationships with others.

What are some things you do to show your love?

Photo by: Jez Timms

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Matt LaFree is the Director of Student Ministries. Through Middle School Core Class, Student Central, and Student Groups, Matt cares for students 6th through 12th grade by teaching them about Christ.

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