How Do They Know?

My family really enjoyed the movie Enchanted. Fabulous, really. The one thing I DIDN't like (other than the princess's cleavage) was one of the songs got so stuck in my head that I couldn't get it out. I liked the Broadwayesque song, just not that the tune was swirlin' around in my head for DAYS. In the song, Giselle is trying to explain to Robert how a girl knows when a guy really, truly loves her. She runs through parks and down streets getting people to join her in the singing answer to the question.

The songwriters (Alan Irwin Menken, Stephen Schwartz) have a point, you know. People do, for the most part, know that we love them by our actions. Someone can tell us all day long, but if their actions don't match up, we're not really buyin' it, are we?

All throughout Scripture, we as Christians are called to a "showing" kind of love...toward our Savior, toward our brothers and sisters in the faith, toward those who are unlovable. God, in the form of the Trinity, is the noun "love." And we are asked to carry it in verb form. Here are just a handful of hundreds of Scriptures (taken from the NIV) on this subject:

John 5:20
"For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. Yes, to your amazement He will show him even greater things than these."

John 13:1
"It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love."

1 John 4:9
"This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him."

1 Peter 1:22
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the Truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

John 21:17
"The third time He said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love Me?' Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, 'Do you love Me?' He said, 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Feed My sheep.'"

1 John 3:16
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

1 John 5:2
"This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands."

To love this way, we must go to the One who is perfect love and who loves perfectly. Surely, you also know that it is possible for someone to be loving and do great things without Jesus being the provider of it. That kind of love will eventually fall short, but that's the subject of a whole other blog. But with Him at the center, us loving Him first and foremost, we can love with the fruit of His Spirit spilling out of us. I am challenged with the "How Do You KNow" song still running through my head, to do just that. I pray those reading will do the same.

If you have not seen this movie or scene from "Enchanted," please take the time. It is incredibly entertaining. But be forewarned, it may be stuck in your head for awhile:



In the Key of HE,