Let everything that you do be done in love.
I Corinthians 16:14
Yesterday morning in chapel, we heard a powerful message on Matthew 25 where Jesus divides the sheep from the goats. The speaker’s main point was that the sheep were defined by their social love in action. They cared for the sick and helped those in need. Their loved manifested itself in concrete ways for the most of vulnerable members of their society.
As I enter this new semester, I’ve been meditating on what the most effective way is for me to love those around me: my students, my colleagues, the staff, and administration. Who are the people who are most vulnerable on campus?
In my verse for the week in Corinthians, Paul too stresses action. His admonition is not primarily about what people say or about what people write but what people do. This does not mean that writing and reading are not actions. Rather it is to stress that we should think of love as a larger category of which our words are but a small part.
The ways I have to show love typically involve words. My thoughtfulness often manifests itself in the form of notes or prayers to people to show them that I care about them and that I want them to be everything God wants them to be. I have not taken the opportunity to do anything in addition to this.
Part of this process, I know, is God opening my eyes to parts of the world that I choose not to look at or remain ignorant of. This semester, as I attempt to live out this verse, I pray that God will use the message I heard yesterday morning to make my love for others in the world a sign of God’s grace.