It’s all about love
During my college teaching career, one of my favorite classes was Teaching Health Education. The class, designed for students majoring in education, prepared them with knowledge and skills to teach health education to K-12 students. Back in the ancient days of VHS tapes, I showed a movie focused on one young woman’s battle with HIV-AIDS.
Dawn had a promising career as an international flight attendant, but contracted HIV on a vacation in the Caribbean. Instead of feeling sorry for herself in these early days of HIV spread, she began a quest to save others. A gifted speaker, she educated herself on HIV prevention and spoke to groups, sharing her story and knowledge.
The video, made by her father, includes a recording of her presentation to Boeing Corporation. We are drawn to Dawn’s engaging personality and her strong desire to help people avoid contracting HIV. Viewers also recognize her compassion and her determination to keep others from the fate she experienced.
Dawn describes a trip to Washington, DC where families of AIDS victims created quilts in memory of lost loved ones. As she describes the emotional impact of seeing hundreds of memorial quilts on display around the National Mall at the capital, Dawn makes the statement:
It’s all about love.
This weekend, I participated in the Enrich Conference, sponsored by Lighthouse Bible Studies. The three-day event was delightful and we learned a plethora of information about a variety of topics related to writing Bible studies. You can learn more about the many resources offered by Lighthouse Bible Studies by clicking here.
We also experienced joyful fellowship, received challenges to develop a closer relationship with Jesus, and delved deeply into spiritual topics. In one of our discussions, we were asked, “What is the Bible about?”
There were varied responses, including one that seems right on target:
“The Bible is a guide for how to live our lives.”
After pondering, I added my thoughts to our online discussion:
The Bible is about love, I think—God’s great love for His people. Our Father shows this eternal love by sending us the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. Jesus shows His love for us by His sacrifice for us, as undeserving of grace as we are. We show our love for our Lord by loving one another.”
Katherine Pasour
It’s all about love
God’s love for us
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
God loved us enough to save us
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Jesus loves us and died for us
My commandment is this: The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. (John 15:12-13)
We are called to love each other
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12)
The treatment for HIV-AIDS has made much progress since Dawn’s quest to protect others from HIV. She died from AIDS more than 25 years ago, but her message remains unchanged–her legacy of loving others continues…
It’s all about love.
Is it all about love? What do you think? Can we love one another as God loves us? Is it possible to love as Jesus challenged us to love? Can you help us by sharing how you put love for others into action? I invite you to share your thoughts.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Wow! What a loaded question Ms. Katherine. Great example that really does cause us to reflect inward and search our souls for a, I suspect unique to each person, response that truly reflects our “heart condition.” If I’m honest with myself, there are times that I stand in judgment of others. Be that political, cultural, or societal, my self-righteousness sometimes seldom reflects the character of Christ that I continue to try and nurture and grow within me. I cannot agree more that “it’s all about love”, but am learning that until my coming glorification, my spiritual desire to be like Christ will continue battling with my hopefully less-in-control human spirit. It is in those moments that we reflect the unselfish, non-judgmental love of Christ in our lives that others can best see Him. Great post ma’am; and I’m glad you were able to attend the Enrich Conference this past weekend. I thought about all my friends there and prayed for everyone in attendance.
Like you, J.D., I confess that my attitude, at times, is more judgmental than my Jesus would approve. He tells us to love as He loves us, but my weakness as a human struggles with that unconditional love that our Lord is able to demonstrate. Thankfully, He doesn’t give up on us and encourages us to keep trying. Thank you for your prayers for our Enrich group. We had an awesome experience. continuing to pray for you and the Cross-Dubya family, my friend.
Katherine, yesterday’s sermon was taken from Psalm 136: His love endures forever- His love is steadfast-He cares and provides for us. When we belong to Him, we love too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and reminders of who and what we should reflect.
“His love endures forever.” We are so blessed that our Father loves us with an eternal and steadfast love. I know I don’t deserve it and will never be good enough. I’m so thankful for mercy and grace. Wishing you a blessed week.
Great challenge here, Katherine! It’s all about love works for me when I envision Jesus as LOVE incarnate. Otherwise, I consider the other virtues because it could easily be said “It’s all about grace or compassion or gratitude” etc. But it will always be about love because it’s always about Jesus who IS love.
You expressed that so beautifully, Mary. Thank you! Jesus is love and no one has ever loved us as He does. Wishing you a blessed day, with the assurance of His infinite love.
Katherine, sharing the love of Christ is a tall order but one that’s rewarding. When we think of the love of Christ, how can not share His compassion and kindness with others? Yet sometimes busyness or the fear of how another person will respond can hinder our efforts. There have been times I regretted not stopping to minister to someone. Simple smiles and greetings can turn someone’s day around. Everyone needs to be noticed. I enjoy engaging others in conversation after noticing something we have in common or expressing appreciation for the job they’re doing. It’s amazing how opportunities to share follow.
Jeannie, you’ve shared some simple ways we can interact with others and seek deeper and meaningful opportunities to talk with them. Spreading the love of Jesus with others can only come after we’ve built a trusting relationship. Thank you for sharing your helpful insights. Thank you also for sharing love with others through your smiles, kindness, and your ministry.
Katherine, I attended as many classes at Enrich as I could but hated to miss any of them. I hope to be there in person next year. The Bible is all about love. The greatest love anyone can ever know and more than we can even comprehend. Love came down. That’s what it’s all about.
Oh, I agree with you one hundred percent, Barbara! “Love came down”…we sing a song at Christmas about that–it says it all! I missed some Enrich sessions, too, as I had a meeting out of town on the Friday of the conference. Like you, I hope to attend next year. It would be wonderful to see you there.
To love as Jesus taught and exemplified doesn’t come natural for most of us, speaking from personal experience. But when we study Jesus and allow His Spirit to minister to our spirits, we can love like He loves and share His eternal hope with others.
The Helper, which is the Spirit of God, is always there to help and comes through over and over as we yield to His leading.
Great message, Katherine. Good teachings on God’s love never expire.
“Good teaching on God’s love never expires.” That’s a wonderful reminder for us to continue to spread the love of Jesus through our writing ministries. We know God’s love is infinite–His eternal love never fails us. So for the time we have on earth to serve Him, we honor His love for us by sharing love with others. Thank you for sharing your thoughts so beautifully with us.
I enjoyed the well-chosen Scripture you use in this post. There’s quite a lot to pull from on the topic of love and you provide both the less familiar and the well known.
God is love, and in our Christian walk we endeavor to grow more like Him. A tall order. But try we must.
Great post.
Thank you for your encouragement, Candyce. You are right–it is a “tall order” for us to strive to walk with Jesus and grow more like Him. We are blessed that He is with us every step of our journey. Wishing you continued joy in your service to Him.
I bet you had a hard time narrowing down the Scripture to share about love, Katherine. There are so many from which to choose. As for your question, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3 NLT). Does that mean I have this love thing nailed down? Absolutely not–I’m still a work in progress.
You are right Annie–there is so much scripture reminding us of God’s infinite love for us. And isn’t that a marvelous thing? Thank you for sharing 2 Peter 1:3, encouraging us to live the life God has called us to–and…He gives us all the tools to do it! Wishing you continued blessings in your writing ministry, my friend.
I wish I could love like Jesus more. I think if each of could do this, we would attract a lot more people to a life of faith. Thanks for sharing Katherine.
I agree, Yvonne, because if we loved Jesus more, we could love others more. Thanks so much for sharing that wonderful thought and prayer.
These comments say it all. We want to be more like Jesus; we struggle and come up short on loving well. The Church shines more light when we love. Thanks, Katherine, and God bless!
Thanks for summing it all up, Nancy. LOVE MORE! Wishing you a blessed week.
Thank you, Katherine, for a question to ponder!God’s love for us is sure paramount, and I’ll be thinking about your question for a while now, I know!
God’s Word gives us so much to think about, reflect on and ponder. We are so blessed that all the answers are in Him. Wishing you a joy filled week.
Beautiful post, Katherine. Thank you for the story and the love Passages. I need these reminders.
One of my favorite Scriptures on the subject is 1 Peter 4:8:
“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’ ”
Thank you for your kind encouragement, Connie, and for sharing 1 Peter 4:8, a beautiful and reassuring scripture. We are so blessed with our Father’s love and the gift of love exemplified in Christ’s sacrifice. Wishing you a blessed week.
I am so thankful God loves us so much. It is a love I don’t think we will ever comprehend this side of eternity. We are probably not not ven capable of loving like He does but we should strive for.
I agree. God’s love is more than we can ever comprehend here on Earth. But aren’t we blessed beyond measure that He loves us so much? If we could only love as He does, the world would be such a better place. We mustn’t give up trying. Wishing you a joy and good health, my friend.