Love does.
So says Bob Goff in his 2012 book by that same name. Bob is a lawyer who lives on an island. He is more though. He is a very insightful, love-driven, life-loving, servant of Jesus. I started rereading his book this past week and realized why I enjoyed it the first time. After reading Greg Murtha’s book, Out of the Blue where he mentions Bob’s book several times (and where Bob wrote the Forward), I decided to read it again.
In chapter 1 Bob tells the story of Randy, the head of the local Young Life chapter. Randy had inserted himself into Bob’s life in unique ways and Bob didn’t even realize it. In one instance, Bob was dropping out of school and was going to Yosemite to hike and get a job. Trouble is he neither hiked and ultimately could not find a job. On his way out of town, he stopped to tell Randy he was leaving and on the spur of the moment Randy said, “Give me a minute.” He went into his room and came out a few minutes later with a backpack with one strap and a sleeping bag. His words were, “Bob. I’m with you.” That became a common refrain. After striking out finding a job, and sneaking into the back of a tent to sleep, he gave up and headed home. The whole time Randy was saying, “Bob, I’m with you.”
There is more to the story but what Bob wrote is priceless.
What I learned from Randy changed my view permanently about what it meant to have a friendship with Jesus. I learned that faith is not about knowing all of the right stuff or doing a list of rules. It’s something more, something more costly because it involves being present and making a sacrifice. Perhaps that is why Jesus is sometimes called Immanuel-‘God with us.’ (p.8)
What Randy taught Bob and what I need to remember is love is more than words. Love does.
Love does. Not love thinks. Not love talks. Not love demands. Not love ponders. LOVE. DOES. Sounds a bit like what John wrote in I John 3:11-“This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” A little later on in that same chapter John wrote: “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.” (v.16) In verse 18 he wrote: “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
How do you see love?
