Don't Just Say It, Do It!

The love being spoken of here is not human love based in human emotions and in the ones we are supposed to love. This is agápē love which comes from God, and which prefers all that God prefers, i.e. what is holy, morally pure, upright, righteous, godly, honest, faithful and obedient to God. And this isn’t something we can fake, though I am certain that some people try. Some people who are very evil may try to appear loving in order to try to fool others, but it is not love to deliberately sin against other people.

And that is why what follows after “Let love be without hypocrisy,” is “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” We cannot love God and other humans if we are walking in sin, making sin our practice, and not holiness and godliness and righteousness. And an example of this is a husband or a wife who will act all sweetness to their spouse, at times, when they are deliberately and habitually committing adultery against them via the lusts of their flesh and pornographic images and self-gratification, and the like.

So you can’t love God and your spouse and other people if you are clinging to what is evil and if you are abhorring what is good. If lying to people is what you practice, that is not love. If following after the ways of the world and not the ways of God is what you practice, that is not love. We cannot love God and love the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life, too, which is not from God the Father, but is from the world. So if what we prefer is what is worldly and not godly, that is not love (see 1 John 2:15-17).

And this doesn’t have to include a gamut of sinful practices such as lying, stealing, cheating, and committing adultery, etc., but it can just be pure selfishness, laziness, worldliness, and filling your time and your life with entertaining yourself and ignoring God’s commands and his purpose for you to even exist, which is to honor him with your life. God did not put us on this earth to be continuously entertained but to serve him with our lives in doing his will and purpose for our lives, in being who he called us to be and to do.

So, if we are devoted to one another, as fellow followers of Jesus Christ, this has to have a biblical foundation and cannot be based in the world and its ways of doing things. And in the Scriptures we are taught to care about one another’s needs, to pray for one another, and to encourage (exhort, urge) one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord so that none of us will be led astray by people who use cunning and craftiness and deceitful scheming to deceive, and so we won’t fall back into sinful behavior patterns.

[Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.


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Don’t Just Say It, Do It!
An Original Work / May 24, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love