A question; what does love look like?

 We use that word so easily. I love, Oreo cookies, ice cream, hollandaise sauce (even on a stick), Snickers Bars, bacon, my job, my wife, my children, my dog, my truck, my parents, my Savior, my God you name it and we love it! One word fits all even though each of the above are very different levels of relationship called love.

What does love look like? Recently a story aired on CBS news about a basketball team and their manager. The manager loves basketball and has special needs. The coach asked the manager to suit up for the last game of the season. He had decided to put the manager in to play regardless of the score and instructed his team to get the manager the ball to attempt a shot. The crowd went wild chanting the manager’s name as he stepped onto the court. Several times he got the ball and attempted a shot missing each time. That was what  the coach had hoped for to get him in the game. He could not have hoped for what came next.

The ball went out of bounds and the other team was to pass it in bounds. The manager was at their end of the court when the player form the other team called out the manager’s name more than once to get his attention and threw the ball to him upon which he shot the ball and made a basket. The place went wild. The story was so good CBS aired it twice with an epilogue attached the second time. The epilogue was the story so moved that president of Texas Tech University that he called and offered a full scholarship to the player who inbounded the ball to the manager. What does love look like?

In the past days much energy has been spent on national ethical/moral debate regarding marriage. In our local news a 2year old was killed by dogs and a 13month old was shot allegedly by two teens. It is hard to think of these events and not be outraged by the acts of others. It is easy to condemn those with differing views or those who commit violent acts. What does love look like? Consider it is Easter and while hanging on the cross Jesus the innocent one said,

 “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”  Luke 23:34 HCSB

In our current situation maybe the most loving thing to do is pray the same thing.

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 HCSB

Easter that’s what love looks like!

    
In His Service and Yours

The Rev