THE JOURNEY: Wearing God’s Love

By General Secretary Dan Coleman

People never forget love in action, especially in a time of need. In fact, your kindness will live longer than you will, and people today are desperate for it. A word. A prayer. A call. A touch. The need for the ministry of apologetics (a rational defense of the gospel) cannot be overstated. But the ultimate apologetic for the gospel is the love of God flowing out of us.

The Apostle Paul laid out the clear standard for our conduct as believers. “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:12-13). We’re to wear God’s love like a garment. It is the “finishing touch” of our conduct and character.

We wear God’s love when we put the interest of Christ and the interest of others above our own. In Sunday school, we were taught a wonderful way to spell joy: Jesus-Others-and You. How simple, and how simply vital, to get the order right. Loving God and loving others, according to Jesus, boils down to this: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31). 

We wear God’s love when we forgive. Life sees to it that we have plenty of opportunities to forgive others. Because of deep wounds and severe injustices, many people are filled with bitterness. There’s no denying the legitimacy of their reasons for pain. 

At the same time, we all have our stories of injustice to tell. It’s part of living in a fallen world. But refusing to forgive carries consequences. Unforgiveness is extremely costly. In fact, one might say it is a “luxury item.” Perhaps that is why some people seem to delight in it, not stopping to realize that they will pay for it in long, expensive installments. Part of that payment is that unforgivesness forces one’s point of reference for life to always be in the past. It’s like a ball and chain that prevents you from running toward the future. 

God doesn’t want your life to literally be eaten away by unforgiveness. Forgiveness is not always easy, but it is liberating. We’re able to forgive because we’ve been forgiven. God’s grace, which forgave our offenses against Him, now becomes the grace we draw on to forgive those who’ve offended us.

We wear God’s love when we share the gospel. The best way to wear God’s love is to share the gospel with those who need its life-giving message. Bill Bright who founded Campus Crusade for Christ wrote, “The love of Jesus Christ for us, and our love for Him, compel us to tell others about Him.”

Fanny Crosby was an American mission worker, poet, and composer who died in 1915. What is unique about her accomplishments is that Fanny was blind from early childhood. Yet she refused to let her blindness define her. She became one of the most prolific writers of hymns and gospel songs in church history, writing more than 8,000 songs with more than 100 million copies printed, despite being blind from shortly after birth. Her songs include “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Blessed Assurance,” and “To God Be the Glory,” to name just a few. Often this blind little lady would stand on the street corner handing out gospel tracts to anyone who would take them. Who knows how many people we will meet in Heaven because of her faithful witness for Christ? Fanny modeled God’s love, tying kindness to the sharing of the gospel. Fanny’s call to urgent gospel witness spoke through her song, “Rescue the Perishing.” Once she was asked which of her thousands of verses of songs she considered her best. Pausing to reflect, this small giant of a saint replied, “I think it’s this one”:

Down in the human heart, crushed by the Tempter,

Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.

Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,

Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

Rescue the perishing; care for the dying.

Jesus is merciful; Jesus will save.

God has gone to the very limits of boundless love to prevent humankind from perishing. The cross of Christ is the roadblock thrown down by a loving God as we race toward eternal ruin. We are on a rescue mission with eternal consequences. If people are lost without Christ (and they are), and if faith in Christ is the only avenue of salvation (and it is), what could possibly be a higher priority than getting the gospel message out?

As those who know Jesus Christ, we’re invited to draw on His love and park our lives there. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9).

One Mission. One Movement.