Love Loudly: Why We are Called to Love Well.

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Have you ever met someone and after your conversation you say to yourself, “Man, there was something different about them. I could talk to them all day. I felt seen and heard during that conversation.” I have been in this situation a few times and that individual leaves a mark. The person probably listened to what you were saying intently, keeping eye contact and engaging with what you through every word. Or they asked good questions that were insightful and refreshing. Sometimes, you can’t even put your finger on it but how they made you feel left a lasting impression. When we meet these people, there is a sense of love and closeness that you feel with them even if you just met them. I love meeting those people but I do not meet them everyday. 

Recently, I started working for a pregnancy center and there I get to interact with people who I would likely never come into contact with at church or at seminary. After a few encounters with women in completely different life stages and circumstances, I began to think about how I make people feel whom I have just met. I began thinking about how little I get to interact with those people and how challenging it can be to create a positive, lasting first impression. 

Studies show that within 7 seconds of meeting someone, they have already decided what they think about you. It only takes 7 seconds for someone to gauge who you are and what you are about. This is not always the case but most of the time, we don’t change our mind about who we think people are based on the first 7 seconds of meeting them. What is even crazier to think about is that we may never meet that person again and in that case, we have one shot at leaving them feeling like they met someone different. Someone who loves so deeply that it must be Jesus shining through. 

Whether we are interacting with other Believers or with strangers, we have the opportunity to share the love of Christ with image bearers of God. Every single person that we meet was created by God and for God. Therefore, there is a level of love and respect that we should treat one another with that should look different than people who do not have faith in Christ. Our love for the people God has put in our circle should shine so bright that others ask the question, “What is different about them?” 

Lately, I have been challenged that our friendships and relationships don’t look that much different than the lost. We get busy and caught up in our own lives that we forget to steward the people God has given us well. The reality is that God has provided the people in our circles for us to steward well. It is our privilege to walk through life with them and care enough about them to get out of our own world and enter theirs. Don’t get caught up wishing you were in someone else’s circle or living in another person’s neighborhood that you forget about the people God has placed you by. 

A huge reason I named this blog Love Loudly is for this very reason. Our love for others, inside our circle and out, should look different. Not because we are mustering up the energy to love but because Christ first loved us. He modeled what it is like to love people well, sharing not only his ministry but his life with the people in his circle (1 Thessalonians 2:8). 

I challenge you to think about what you are doing to love the people God has placed in your circle well. Ask good questions, be good listeners, and remember that the friend you want in your life is the friend that you should be to others. We do not have to do this perfectly, there is grace upon grace. But let us strive to be characterized by loud love for our people.