"Wherefore show ye to them. And before the
churches, the proof of your love" (2 Cor. 8:24). Love is
capable of demonstration. Where it really exists, it will
manifest itself. It need not be made known by mere
assertion. We are told to love not in word or in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. In these days there are many who, like
some of old, show much love with their mouths while their
hearts are far from God. The test of our love is not how
much we talk about it, but how much we manifest it in our
lives. There are three tests of love, which never fail to
show exactly just how much we love. Let us consider them in
order.
1. How Much We Serve
We are told that Jacob loved Rachel so much
that he served seven years for her, and that those years
seemed to him as only a few days. The amount of our love to
God is proved by our willingness to serve him. If there is
in us a disposition to do only what we please to do, and if
we can, to disregard any of the known will of God, it is a
clear evidence that we do not love him. It matters not what
we profess, if we are not willing to put obedience to God's
will before everything else, it is from lack of love.
Love makes people willing-hearted. There are
many things to do; there are many ways to serve; and love
prompts us to serve wherever possible. If the work of God
stands first in our love, our hands will always be ready for
service. I have attended many camp-meetings, where I have
noticed those on whom the labor of the meeting fell.
Everybody was willing to sit in the meeting and enjoy the
good sermons and take all the blessings they could get; but
when it came to the labor and responsibility connected with
the meeting, willingness suddenly disappeared, and a greater
part of the burden fell upon the ministers and a few
consecrated brethren and sisters who loved God and the
people enough to go to work. I have often had the occasion
to call for volunteers for service, and have often found
that many people who can say "Amen" and "Praise the Lord,"
and perhaps shout in meeting, become suddenly silent when it
comes to volunteering for work. The test of their love
proves that love is wanting.
In a certain camp-meeting there was a young
man who professed to be saved, and was saved, so far as I
know. I noticed, however, that when others were busy at work
in some necessary service, he was always standing back a
mere onlooker. One day about the middle of the meeting this
young man came to the altar, and when asked what was the
trouble he said that he had backslidden. Being asked what he
had done, he said that he did not know. I said to him: "I
think I know your trouble. Whenever there has been a
meeting, you have been ready to go and enjoy all you could
of it; whenever a meal is ready, you are always ready for
it; but when there is any work to be done, you are never
ready. Now," I continued, "when there is need of water at
the boarding-house, you take a bucket and go for it; when
there is wood needed, get an ax and use it, or when there is
anything to do in which you can help, be ready for it and do
your part." He took my advice, and from that time on he
seemed to be a different man. The reason many people get so
few blessings is because they do not love enough to serve.
There are duties for all. There are
opportunities everywhere. Every one of them is a test of
love. Brother, sister, how does your love stand the test?
Love will not grumble; it will not complain; it will not
shirk from service. Do you love as fervently as you ought?
2. How Much We Sacrifice
The mother who loves her child thinks no
sacrifice too great for it. Even her life will she give for
it, if need be. The man who loves his country will, if the
need should arise, count no sacrifice too great. He who
loves God as truly as the mother loves her child or the
patriot loves his country is willing to sacrifice for God.
Abraham proved his love by not withholding his son. He
offered him freely in obedience to God's command. Paul
loved, and as a result he counted not his life dear to
himself so that he might do the work of God. Christ so loved
the world that he sacrificed everything for our salvation.
We say that we love this glorious gospel; we
say we desire to see it spread to the ends of the earth; but
how much do we love it compared with our love of self? Do we
love it more than self, or equal with self, or far less than
self? Many persons spend willingly and even lavishly for
self who give sparingly and reluctantly to God. They spend
more for their pleasures than they give. Some spend more for
candy than they give to missions. Some spend more for
gasoline for pleasure-riding than they give to all causes.
In fact, some spend so much on their own selfish desires
that when a need of God's work is presented they can truly
say, "I can not give much." They might feel disposed to give
if they had anything to give, but are they willing to deny
themselves of some self-gratification in order to have
something to give? There is the test of love that proves its
real direction-whether it runs our self-ward or God-ward. If
we love God and souls as much as we love self, we can spend
money for them just as willingly and with as little
reluctance or regret to see it go as if it were being spent
for ourselves. If we can not spend for God and his work more
willingly than for self, it is because we do not love him
more than self. If we do not get more pleasure out of giving
than we do out of consuming, we may well question both the
amount and quality of our love and its direction. Often the
work of God must go on crutches because of lack of means
while professors live in luxury.
There is no way to avoid the issue. There is
plenty of money so that all the work of the church could be
properly financed and no undue burden rest upon any. The
fact is, there are too many whose love is wanting in that
quality which draws out their hearts into the work of God
until they are willing to sacrifice for it. It is true that
there are many who do love and who prove it by their
sacrifices. But it is just as true that there are many
others who do not deny themselves and will not even from a
sense of duty, to say nothing of making willing sacrifices
through the prompting of love.
It is time that we heard more of the
practical side of love preached from the pulpit and that
people who profess salvation and at the same time manifest
an indifference toward the salvation of souls and the work
of the church in general should not be left to drift along
in coldness and be lost at last. A sacrificing person or a
sacrificing church will be spiritual if the sacrifice is
prompted by love. People who are willing to serve and
sacrifice rarely backslide.
3. How Much We Endure
Christ proved his love by enduring the scoffs
and ill-treatment of the people and the shame and suffering
of the cross. By this he proved his love to be real. If our
love is genuine, as was that of the saints of old, we can
rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for His name.
Paul endured all things for the elect's sake, that they
might be saved. If we can not endure the little
persecutions, the unkind words, the sneering smiles, the
scoffs and jeers, of the unbelieving world, is it not
because our love lacks fervency? The early church took
joyfully the spoiling of their goods because they loved
their Lord far more than the loved their goods. God's
ministers in all ages have endured hardships and perils and
have suffered in a thousand ways without faltering, because
they loved souls as God loves them.
Sometimes people quote the text, "We know
that we have passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren;" but if these same brethren do something that does
not please them, they are offended and grieved and are full
of complaint and murmuring, and it is hard for them to be
reconciled to their brethren. Is the love of such people
genuine? Does it really prove that they have passed from
death unto life? Many think that the preacher ought to be
willing to endure almost anything for the cause (and so he
should), but they do not consider that the same love in them
will give them the same spirit of endurance and willingness
to suffer as it gives to the minister. Love that can not
endure hardness, misrepresentation, neglect, and such
things, and still be sweet and strong, needs to be
increased.
Love makes service sweet, sacrifice easy, and
meek endurance possible. Love enriches, ennobles, and
blesses. It sweetens the bitter cup; it lightens the heavy
load. It strengthens the faltering soul. Let us, therefore,
see that we have fervent love toward God, toward each other,
and toward the lost world.
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