According to Scripture, love is the greatest thing. It makes the top two commandments. The first and most important is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12:30-31).

We often think love is a feeling you must have, and yes, in some cases this is true. But love is much more than a feeling. Love is an action that requires our time and effort. Acting out of love is how we go from hearing the Word to living the Word.

I know I can honestly say there have been many times in my life when I haven't always felt like loving people. It can be very difficult to love those who hurt us, which is why love is an action. Love is something that we do. When your siblings are being annoying or making you angry, it can be easy to do the same back to them, but choosing to be kind instead of cruel is showing love. Love is a decision to serve another person's interest, even when we don't feel like it. Just think of Jesus - I am sure He didn't necessarily feel like getting beaten and nailed to a cross for people who rejected Him, but by choosing the needs of the world before Himself, He was showing His enormous love for all of us.

"Actions speak louder than words" is a familiar phrase that comes to mind when thinking about loving others. You can always tell someone that you love them, but that will never have the same effect as showing someone that you love them. When you give someone the gift of your time or a meaningful gesture, that shows that you love someone more than just saying the words. As I said before, sometimes you may not always have that feeling of love for a person, but your actions will show what's in your heart.

Displaying love through our actions doesn't only apply to loving people. It also applies to loving God. John 14:15 says, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."

It's a lot easier for someone to accept Christ into their life and say they love God than it is to actually live a life that's pleasing to God. Living for God means dying to ourselves daily and doing what God wants us to do rather than what we or anybody else would want us to do. God says if we love Him, then we will obey Him. We will show Him our love by being obedient and faithful. We will show that we love Him by choosing to serve His interest above our own, and isn't that the least we can do for the One who displayed the greatest act of love for us?

Sarah Smith grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with an English degree. She loves being a child of God and serving in missions. She has gone on trips to Germany and London and served a recent term of five and half months in London as a missionary intern. She recently applied to seminary and is looking forward to attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall to study Christian Counseling.