Two brothers worked together on the family farm. One was married and had a large family. The other was single. At the day's end, the brothers shared everything equally, produce and profit. Then one day the single brother said to himself, "It's not right that we should share equally the produce and the profit. I'm alone and my needs are simple." So each night he took a sack of grain from his bin and crept across the field between their houses, dumping it into his brother's bin.
Meanwhile, the married brother said to himself, "Its not right that we should share the produce and the profit equally. After all, I'm married and I have my wife and my children to look after me in years to come. My brother has no one, and no one to take care of his future." So each night, he took a sack of grain and dumped it into his single brother's bin.
Both men were puzzled for years because their supply of grain never dwindled. Then one dark night the two brothers bumped into each other. Suddenly they realised what was happening. They dropped their sacks and embraced one another.
(Note: I found this story somewhere on the 'net - I have no record of where, and think it was anonymous. If author is known and acknowledgement or permission is needed, please email me
An unusual story? Maybe, maybe not. If we have grown up in a loving home, we might say, yes, I understand this! But if we have not experienced a lot of love in our lives, we might say, 'That's ridiculous!' In a world where military might, and greed rule the day, love may well seem 'ridiculous.' I watched the animated picture, Ice Age, on video last night. At first I braced myself to have to sift out the usual evolutionary stuff, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. In fact, the message that came through, was that people - and animals - need to stick together, and work together. The crucial turning point was where one of the group had the opportunity to betray the others, and gain some glory for himself, but he didn't. He had been saved by one of the others, and decided to set aside the evolutionary mantra of 'survival of the fittest.' Instead, he adopted the group's creed, 'we're a herd, we stick together.' There is a blessed inconsistency throughout our modern world. Even where people do not acknowledge our Creator God, they still acknowledge his values: the weak are not to be left alone, but are to be looked after. What is this value? In a word, it is love. We may be impressed by the powerful, and we might be overcome by pressures of greed, but underneath it all, don't we instinctively know, when all is said and done, that might is not always right, and money is never enough?! What we know it this: love is supreme.
Our hearts yearn for love. We need to be loved, we also need to love. This is what we have been made for. We have been created not by an impersonal force or remote deity, but by the one who has revealed himself through his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Scriptures, as Love. God is love. The first letter of John, in the New Testament, presents this message so clearly. But note how it defines love, in chapter 4 verse 10:
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
When we think about love as Christians, we will think about God's command, that we love one another. We might think about the greatest commandment - to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our strength, and then the second greatest command, to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. But the verse I just read declares, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us..."
Do you love God? Do you love others? The great chapter of love, 1 Corinthians 13, tests our words and actions for love, and declares that if what we say and do isn't motivated by love, and an expression of love, then no matter how impressive we think we are, we are empty people, and all we do is worthless.
St Paul describes love in this way: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Is that how you relate to others? We may proclaim love as supreme in our songs, our words, our greeting cards and wall hangings, but it's when the pressure is on, that our love is most needed, and most lacking.
But there is one place where love can be found. In a manger, and on dusty roads; in market places and in homes; in a garden, and on a hill... a hill that saw the greatest injustice in human history... this is where true love can be found: in the person of Jesus Christ, God's heart of love for the world. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
This is love. Love for the unlovely - this is what we are, in the corruption of our sinfulness and lovelessness. This is love - God has sent his son to be the sacrifice, that deals with our lovelessness. We didn't ask him to do this. He chose to do this. Why? Because He so loved the world. Because he loves us. This, dear friends, is love.
God calls us to love him with our all. He calls us to love one another. But first, he calls us to receive his love for us. John writes in his first letter, 4:19 "We love, because he first loved us."
Our love for God, and for others, flows out of his prior and constant love for us. There is no other way we can come up with the kind of love we need, to continue to serve God, and to reach out to a love-starved world.
To some, love may seem ridiculous. It may seem weak, in the face of violence and greed. But as 1 Corinthians 13 declares, "love never fails." Our creeks may dry up. Our crops may perish. Our families may suffer strain, and our friendships might be tested. But God's Word stays sure: The love that God has for us, will never fail. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, "We love, because he first loved us." "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
I close with verse 11 and 12, of 1 John 4, (encourage you to take the time to read the whole letter, if you are able) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. God's Word is true, Amen!