(These are the transcripts of a series of ‘Midday Meditations’ – 60-second devotionals – broadcast on Radio Cayman in April 2019)
Some people say that the words, “I love you” is one of the hardest phrases to say. Right up there with, “I’m sorry”.
I disagree, I think it’s pretty easy, and people – especially guys – have long used it not as proof of something real but as cover for something that isn’t. Sometimes the person we’re trying to fool is ourselves, sometimes we’re trying to fool the person we’re with or maybe even a whole group of people. I see some megachurch pastors send out Tweets that say they love all the people who read their tweets, but they don’t.
Love isn’t a feeling that you can spray about like the mossie guy in his plane will soon start his scary-low flyovers across the island to help us with our mosquito problem. Love gets involved in people’s lives and sacrifices time, energy, emotion and money for the benefit of someone else when we can see no return on our investment.
Real Christians help eachother – and the wider community – in practical ways. They also help encourage eachother in their faith. That’s why there’s no such thing in the Bible as a Christian who stays on their own, who doesn’t feel the need or desire to be other Christians. God doesn’t tell Christians to go to church, for example, because he’s taking a register. But church is just the first step in caring for your family if you say that you’re in that family.
Everyone likes to hear the words, “I love you”, but only when it really means something.
Paul T Reynolds 