John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

This is how much God loved the world:

He gave.

God did not love the world so much that his heart overflowed. He did not love the world so much that his pen naturally spilled forth poetry. He did not love the world so much that he had to shout it from the highest mountaintops. No, this is how much God loved the world:

He gave.

And this is, after all, the truest measure of whether we indeed love or not. If we say that we love another and yet are not willing to give of our time, our resources, our selves to them, then can we really say we love him or her?

Can we really say that we love our family if we make no investment in them?

Can we really say we love the homeless and poor if we try never to meet them?

Can we really say we love our church as a family if we do not give our hearts to its teaching and mission?

Can we really say that we love anything or anyone if there is nothing tangible behind it, some gift of time, resources, or self?

We try to love in poor ways sometimes, believing that love is a warm disposition or a positive attitude. And yet it doesn’t last like God’s love, doesn’t mean what God’s love does. Though we have been empowered by God's Spirit to share true love, love that sticks and nourishes, this other kind of love falls away and is quickly dissolved. But God's love given straight from Him or through another stays with us and means something.

Because this is how much God loved the world:

He gave.