Loving in Truth and Action

I was looking throughout the internet this week and found something that was published in 2017. It comes from the website worldrelief.org and they had something on there called 17 Moments We Saw Love in 2017.

I read through some of these stories and wanted to highlight a couple of them for you.

Sidney Donates to Cop

Many kids save their piggy bank money to buy themselves treats or a new toy. But one 4-year-old girl in Colorado is using her cash to help a local police officer who is battling cancer.

Sidney said the decision to donate her money to Officer Kyle Zulauf of the Longmont Police Department was an easy one. “It’s the nice thing to do,” she said.

Zulauf, an Army veteran and father of three, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 1 1/2 years ago. His police department has been trying to raise the money he needs to pay for an additional surgery.

In a way, Sidney is returning a favor to the police department. Earlier this year, another officer, David Bonday, came to her family’s new home after Sidney asked them to check for monsters — an adorable story that made headlines across the U.S.

Sidney has long had a fascination with the police. Her mother, Megan, said her daughter visits the police station about once a week and frequently brings the officers treats like candy and cookies. “It all started about two years ago when she saw an officer directing traffic. It was hot outside and she said, ‘He looks thirsty; he needs water,’ and she brought him a bottle of water.”

Because of her weekly visits, Sidney immediately recognized a fundraising poster at the police station that had a photo of Zulauf. She told her mother then and there she wanted to give Zulauf her piggy bank money, about $9 in bills and half a bag of change. “It feels good that she’s so giving. She wanted to save the money for a toy but decided someone needed it more than her," said Fahrenbruch.

Last week, Longmont’s Department of Public Safety posted photos on Facebook of Sidney donating the contents of her piggy bank to Bonday to give to the department’s fundraiser for Zulauf.

"Many of you will recall Sidney (4-years-old), who made national news when Longmont Police Officer Bonday came to her house to search out and remove monsters in her new home," the department said in an accompanying statement. "Today, Sidney was back at the department with a different purpose. She brought the contents of her piggy bank for Officer Bonday to provide to our fundraiser for one of our officers who has been diagnosed with cancer. Words are not available for what this means to us."

Cashier Helps Man

Have you ever been in line at the store and you were trying to pay for what you were buying but you either kept miscounting or maybe you didn’t have enough? It can make people feel nervous and even incredibly apologetic to the person behind them. Well, that’s what happens in this story.

Spring Herbison Bowlin walked out of a Walmart in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with both her lunch and a full heart.

As she was waiting in the checkout line on Thursday, she watched as the elderly man in front of her had his items scanned and was told what he owed.

“He looks apologetically back at me and starts taking handfuls of change out of his pockets. He miscounts and starts to get flustered,” Bowlin wrote in a Facebook post that has since been shared over 40,000 times. “[He] gives me a muttered, ‘I’m so sorry.’ His hands and voice are shaking.”

The “beautiful cashier,” she wrote, took his hands, dumped all the change on the counter and said, “This is not a problem, honey. We will do this together.”

Both the cashier and Bowlin reassured him that everything was okay when he continued to apologize. After the transaction was handled and he walked away, Bowlin thanked the cashier for being so patient with the man.

“You shouldn’t have to thank me, baby,” the woman told her. “What’s wrong with our world is we’ve forgotten how to love one another.”

Bowlin added: “I want to be more like her.”

Sermon

These are just two of the incredible stories that were on this site. And, if we think about it, these are just two of the vastly endless ways that people show love to one another each and every day. The struggle is that our world likes to highlight the pain that is caused instead of the good thing.

Imagine what our news stations, social media feeds, and even conversations would look like if both good and bad stories were shared equally, or maybe even the good a bit more.

While there is so much negativity happening all around the world, there are also some amazing things that happen as well. We just have to be willing to see that sometimes.

But, what’s also important is making sure that we are people who are loving others by our actions. Not so that we can be recognized, be on the news, or have an article written about us. But, because that’s what we are supposed to be doing as Christians.

Let’s take a look again at our reading from 1 John

1 John 3:16–24 NRSV

16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

This is truly a convicting yet wonderful Scripture. First, we are reassured that the ultimate act of love that Christ displayed was his death on the cross, where he laid down his life.

Then, we are told that we must lay down our lives for one another. Meaning that the lives of those around us are more important than our own. It means we give when it’s inconvenient, we help when we don’t really want to, and we love those many consider unloveable.

But, what really stuck out to me as I read over this Scripture was verse 18, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” As I read this I asked myself, “do I love in truth and action, or just by word and speech?”

You know, it’s easy for us to love in word or speech. We can walk up to any person that is near us and say, “I love you.” We can try to show them love by complimenting them, by saying how wonderful they are. But, imagine if your spouse, your child or grandchild, maybe a relative, only ever said “I love you” but never actually showed it.

It would be as if we are saying one thing, but doing another.

Imagine if your spouse said, “I love you.” But then never hugged you, never kissed you, never cared for you when you were sick. Imagine they never helped you around the house, held your hand, took time out of their day to be with you. Imagine if they said they loved you, but never actually showed you they loved you. Would you go to bed at the end of the day feeling loved? Well, I mean, they said they loved you, right?!

But, our words are empty and meaningless if we are not supporting them with our actions. This means that loving our brothers and sisters is less about kind words and thoughtful speech and more about devoting time and resources to help and love them.

Those two stories I read you earlier in the sermon were definitely moments where love was shown by actions and not just words.

The cashier could have hassled the man, told him to hurry up. The woman behind him could have scoffed out loud or started tapping her fingers on her cart. Instead, they showed patience and kindness to the man. It not only showed him love, but the cashier showed love to the woman behind him as well. That story was then shared with over 400,000 people on Facebook. That’s 400,000 people, plus however many of their friends who saw it, who witnessed love through action.

The little girl, Sidney, who offered up her saved money to help the cop with cancer. That story reminded me so much of the woman who gave her two pennies as an offering at the temple. What did Jesus say about this? Well, he said that while the others gave out of their abundance, she gave all that she had. He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” Sidney didn’t give her whole $9 because she was forced to. She didn’t give because she had to or even because she thought it was the right thing to do. She gave all that she had because she loved this man and wanted to help.

It is so incredibly important for us today to be loving through our actions and through the truth. That means the truth of Jesus Christ should be reflected through the loving actions that we do in this world.

So, as I thought about my actions and whether or not I was loving, I realized that while I’m sure I have a few moments where I am loving through my actions, there is no reason why I can’t be more loving through them.

I hope that the Spirit convicts all of us this morning to be more loving, to search our hearts and find where we can step out more in truth and grace and show the wold the love that Christ offered us on the cross. If God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son to die, then why can’t I show love by sitting with the stranger, helping the needy, and loving those who many consider unloveable?

If we truly wish to abide in Christ Jesus, then we must do what God has commanded us to do. He has commanded us, according to Scripture, to not only believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, but to also love one another. Now, we must make sure that we are loving each other by the standards of God and not the standards of this world, for we want to be sure to love another another in TRUTH and in action.

So, be sure to search your life for the moments and times where you can love one another, for that is how we truly and faithfully abide in Christ Jesus. Through our faith in Him, and our love for one another.

Amen.