Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
2 Corinthians 2:8 (KJV, NIV)
“Confirm your love.” “Reaffirm your love.” Make sure he/she/they know that you love him/her/them.
I’ve said it before though, you say. I’ve shown them my love for them in different ways.
Say it again. Show them again.
People love–and need–to hear and see that they are loved.
So what if they already know? So what if you tell them every day? So what if-if whatever?!
What if it’s the last time you ever get to say “I love you”? What if it’s the last time you’re able to see them alive (here on earth)? What if it’s the last time you’re able to tell anyone anything?
It’s special to me when people tell me they love me or appreciate me, or when they thank me for something I did/said, or when they randomly compliment me or bless me. I treasure those words, those moments, those people.
And because I know how it feels when someone encourages me, I try to encourage others. I try to thank them for things. I try to compliment them or their hair or their clothes or something. I try to let them know I see them, I care about them, I love them.
It’s hard sometimes. Sometimes I feel awkward doing it. Sometimes I don’t think about it. Sometimes I think of something to say or do for them, then never follow through. Plus the fact that it’s sometimes hard for me to actually say encouraging things like that: I get emotional pretty easily, and it is hard (not to mention embarrassing) trying to talk while a lump’s in your throat and tears are welling up. And my face turns red–I can feel it burning.
But I still want them to know. So I often write what I want to say; I’ll tell them through a note or card or email or message of some sort. I don’t do it as often as I want–or should–but like I said, I’m trying.
And that’s what matters, I think. I’m trying–not just doing it out of habit or because it’s “what we do,” but choosing to do it, making an effort to do it.
That’s what love really is: a choice. A decision. An action. It’s not just a feeling, not just an emotion you get.
And maybe that’s kind of what Paul meant when he wrote those words. He was saying to forgive those who “have caused grief” (2 Cor. 2:5, KJV) and comfort them so they wouldn’t be “swallowed up” by intense sorrow/guilt. “Confirm your love for him,” he begged.
He didn’t say “confirm your love if you want to” or “confirm your love if you feel loving toward him” or “tell him you love him if you feel the love oozing from your pores for him”! It was just, bam, do it. Make the decision and effort to say you love him. It’s a choice you have to make.
If y’all are anything like me, there’s times when your heart just swells with love for somebody. They do or say something or they’re just being themselves, and suddenly it hits you that you really love this person and you can’t imagine life without them. You look at them and realize, “God, You have blessed me so much by allowing me to know this person, by having them be in my life.”
And then other times, it’s, well, not like that. You take them for granted, or you’re mad at them, or you don’t even think about them. . . Or maybe it’s somebody you don’t really know; maybe it’s that mom yelling at her fussy kids in Walmart, or that co-worker who’s really annoying and hard to deal with, or that tattooed guy visiting your church.
That’s when love has to be more of a choice than an emotion.
Jesus told us to love each other as He loves us (John 15:12). There were no rules, no guidelines, no boundaries, no specifications–just “Love. As I’ve loved you.”
Corrie ten Boom told a story about meeting one of the prison guards from Auschwitz at a place where she had just spoken. The guard didn’t recognize her, but he told her who he was and asked her forgiveness. Corrie, in telling this story, said that she prayed for God to help her forgive, because she couldn’t do it. Then she lifted her arm and clasped his hand, and as she did, love and forgiveness for this man flowed through her.
Somebody (maybe Corrie ten Boom, I don’t know) said that when Jesus asks us to love, He supplies the love, the feeling–we just have to be willing and take action, make the choice to love.
So. Whom are you going to “confirm your love” for today? 🙂
P.S. Sorry this is so rambling and disjointed. My brain went off on a bunch of bunny trails; but at least they were all related! 😄
