Love Is a Verb

Introduction

How does a deadline affect your use of time? If you know that you have a test in two days, when do you start to study? If you know that people are coming for a visit, when do you start to clean the house? How far in advance do you make reservations for dinner on Valentine’s Day? Time matters. If you knew you were going to die today, would it affect your use of time? One of the more difficult challenges we have is to not allow the tyranny of the urgent to steer us from the important. We are easily distracted. We tend to view time as unlimited or at least negotiable. We then discover the truth—we are ruled by time but we cannot rule time. We also learn that perhaps one of the greatest disciplines in life is to use time well rather than presuming upon it.

We try to teach children to not rush through an event. Adults try to learn to remain focused on the present rather than allowing the past to dictate our actions or the future to make us miss the present. Athletes are taught to forget the last play and stay focused on the current one. Twelve-step programs focus on one day at a time. Even Jesus had something to say about time: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

How would you live differently today if you knew it was your last? Paul has something to say about that in our text. Paul knew something about the preciousness of time and how to use it well. Let’s learn from him.

Time Is Short

In verses 8–10, Paul states how believers live in this world. In the previous section, Paul said that believers have a different view of government. He said believers submit to the government and are cooperative with the government. This is part of our transformation. Do not think that verses 8–14 have nothing to do with the previous section. We pay taxes but we have something to pay to everyone. Let me make this point on the front end. This has nothing to do with the kind of government or the type of person involved. This section has to do with what kind of believer you are. Someone mistreats you, then what kind of believer are you? When things are not going well, how does your faith reveal itself?

We have no problem blaming and criticizing others. We have no problem shunning our responsibility. In our section Paul is reminding believers who are not living in harmony that the focus needs to be on what kind of believer you are, not focusing on the evil of the other. In 12:17, he told them not to repay evil with evil. Don’t take the mistreatment of another as permission to mistreat them. Don’t take revenge (v. 19). Keep your spiritual fervor and serve the Lord (v. 11). People who claim to love God and to want to honor him live in amazingly weird and odd ways.

Verse 8 has been used to say that debt is bad. You can’t find that principle here. Proverbs 22:7 and other texts establish that principle, but not here. Paul’s point is not financial. Paul’s point is about believers living in a world that is blatantly and obviously against the will of God. We owe the debt of love to all people. This is especially true among us but it is equally true among all.

This has to do with us. But don’t get confused about love here. Don’t think sentimentally. Love is a verb, not a feeling. It falls in love with valuing another person, respecting another person, treating another person with dignity and worth. It has the idea of treasuring another. This kind of love results in actions that demonstrate something about your faith. Seek revenge when mistreated? That’s a human reaction. Seek what is best for another when mistreated? That’s something only God could do. You say, “Well, this is all good, but this isn’t how the world works.” I know, but this is how we show that Jesus is Lord. Not our feelings, not our emotions, not our thoughts, not our behaviors—all belong to Jesus who showed us how to love when mistreated.

How Do We Do This?

Great question. Verses 11–14 tell us how we are going to do this. First, we understand time. Paul reminds us of something—we are closer to being with God than when we started. I turned 63 on Monday. Time is getting shorter. I’ve got more years behind me than in front of me. Each day gets me closer to being with God. I’ve got fewer days before that happens. This is true for you, too. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. But we live in a dark, sinful world. We will not always live in this world. Verse 12—the night is nearly over, the day is almost here.

We live in a time when lost jobs, lost relationships, lost health, mistreatment by others, disappointment in self, our own sin, the pressure of being politically correct, the pervasiveness of sin—all of this and more surround us. The night is nearly over, the day is almost here. I see the sun rise almost every day, and I see how the blackness of night gives way to the shades of light as the sun rises. This is glorious.

But on the nights that you cannot sleep because of the emotional, physical, or spiritual pain, listen to Paul’s words—the night is almost over. We love because we know the night is almost over. To refuse to love is to continue living as if the day will never come. We are released from our anger, our worry, our fretting, our revenge, our sin—the night is nearly over; the day is almost here. Understand the time. This is not our home.

Second, change your clothes. Paul uses two different symbols to make this point. Verse 12—put on the armor of light—and verse 14—clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The armor of light suggests a battle is going on. We live in the dark but we fight as people who understand that the light is coming. Salvation is nearer now than we first believed. Change your clothes. Put on your battle gear. This is not a time for withdrawal. This is not a time to be afraid. The battle is real. It’s a spiritual battle being fought in a physical world. Put your armor on. Put on the armor that reveals light. Indecency is night fighting. Love is light fighting. Night fighting is what human beings do. Love fighting is what God’s people do. How?

We put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul makes this same type of statement in Galatians 3:27 when describing baptism. Clothe yourself with Jesus. Immersed in that water, you die to self. You die to the night. You put on the clothes of Jesus and you enter the battle with your eyes wide open. As Jesus said in Luke 6:22—“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”

Understand the time. Change your clothes. Seek what is good for others. Love with the love of God. Fight the battle. Every day brings you closer to God. Night is nearly over; the day is almost here. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t let the tyranny of the urgent keep you from losing sight of the important. Put on Jesus and live as people of light in a dark world. Rejoice. God has called us to be rejected. He has called us to be hated. Never pleasant, but what an honor to fight for the light with love in a world that hates.

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