"By this we know love..."

"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

This was the opening text for my pastor's sermon last Sunday night, and I've been thinking about his words and this passage ever since. He made one statement that really stood out to me: "The only way we know what love is is by examining the cross." It's true. I can't understand how to love until I've fastened my eyes on the cross. I don't know compassion until the meaning of the cross is impressed upon me strongly. Loving requires living my life centered on the gospel -- the good news that God loves me!

Practically, this can look like a lot of things. 1 John 3:18 says, "...let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth." I think a good starting point to loving others is getting to the place where we can love in word and talk. If we can't love others through our communication to them and about them, we certainly can't do it through our deed and the truth. This first step is hard, and yet -- according to this passage -- it isn't even the most important. After we learn to communicate in love, we must act in love. And I know I can't do that apart from a life that is fixed at the cross, because the temptations to do otherwise (engage in one little bit of gossip, or read one little negative thing, or think one little harsh thought about another) are strong.

We learn to love by gazing on the One who is the very expression of the Father's love to us. We learn this lesson at the foot of the cross.