This Is How

​​I remember reading Love Does by Bob Goff when it first came out. I was so inspired by the stories of love in action and underlined nearly the whole thing.
 
When I got to the end, I changed one of my prayers from “Lord, will you give me words that make me a better writer and teacher?” to “Lord, will you walk me through experiences that give me something worth saying and make me someone worth listening to?”
 
I was immediately faced with hands-on opportunities to love in action and truth. Because without action, love isn’t truly love at all. And a words-deep walk with God is counterfeit.

​We don’t truly know something until we experience it and it becomes part of us. 1 John emphasizes the means by which we can know what love is, and knowing when it’s become who we are. He wrote to believers who were surrounded by false teaching, who had begun to lose sight of what, and Who, they believed; their confusion was evident in how they acted. He repeatedly used the phrase “This is how we know…” followed by actions done either by God or us.
 
Until we truly know and experience God’s love, the world around us will never learn it through us. Here are just a few of his examples of knowing that come from doing:
 
“This is how we know we are in him...” 1 John 2:5
“This is how we know what love is…” 1 John 3:16
“This is how we know that we belong to the truth…” 1 John 3:19
“This is how we know that He lives in us…” 1 John 3:24
“This is how we know that we love the children of God…” 1 John 5:2
“This is how God showed his love…” 1 John 4:9
 
 
I encourage you to pause and re-read the second half of each of these statements. Each one describes the means by which we can know a truth about God and ourselves. And each “how” phrase is followed by an action. Not once does this knowing come by what God said or what we say.
 
We know who God is by what He has done and is doing, not just by what He said. We know who we are by what we do and how we obey. This knowledge isn’t intellectual, but experiential.
 
Jesus said the world would know us by our love. Not by what we know about love, say about love, or what we post about love, but by how we actually love.
 
What God says about His love for us is only the tip of the iceberg of what He does to show us. His words have weight and depth because of His acts of sending His son, walking this earth, and dwelling and working in us.
 
What do your actions say about your love? Anyone can talk about love, but only the Spirit of God in us can teach us and enable us to demonstrate true and active love. The shallow love we offer others in our own strength is a false one. Ask Him to teach you how you are loved and how to love those around you. And be ready for each lecture to be accompanied by a lab session that changes who you are.
 
This is how they will know love: when we move from being clanging symbols, clattering about it with our mouths and social media accounts, to actually becoming it. Spirit, teach us to love, we want to truly know.

Memory Verse: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 (NIV)

About the Author

Hi, I'm Kelly Orlowski and I'm a wife, fully-time mother, and part-time seminary student. I live with my husband and four children in Franklin, TN. A former social worker, I am the founder of Lady Crew Apparel, and passionately fight against human trafficking. I love seeing hearers become doers, and reminding doers to keep listening. Connect with Kelly at www.wearladycrew.com

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