Three More Words That Make the World Go Round

What do you think is the greatest word of all time – the “GWOAT”? Any ideas? According to a poll conducted by Dictionary.com, it’s a word we’ve all come to know and love: LOVE. There were other words that received votes, but apparently folks just love “love.”

 

Based on this unscientific study, it would seem reasonable to assume that the same voters would favor “I love you” as the greatest trio of words of all time. My last post dealt with three words that I believe are the most momentous of all time: “It is finished.” But these other three little words – “I love you” – expressed probably millions of times every day, are nearly as impactful. Who doesn’t like to hear them?

Being a writer, I think about words a lot. It strikes me that even in its simplicity, “I love you” carries a host of connotations. “Love makes the world go round,” the old pop tune told us, but what do we really mean when we say that?

 

Because we can love our spouse or significant other. We can love our children. We can love our dog (or cat if that’s your preference). We can love our job or career. We can love our house or the neighborhood in which we live. We can love seeing a brilliant sunrise or a spectacular sunset. We can love our favorite sports team. We can love travel. But the “love” we reference in each situation is different from all of the others.

 

Some languages, like Greek, manage to separate the meanings of a word like love, using terms like eros, agape, philia, storge and others to clarify what one loves and in what ways. In English, however, we basically have just one word – love – whose meaning is largely determined by context.

 

Even when someone says, “I love you,” we can’t always assume we know what they mean. Because it’s rarely a stand-alone phrase. We might mean, “I love you because…” – because of how someone makes us feel; what they do for us; how they look, or a variety of other reasons.

 

Someone saying “I love you” might mean “I love you if…” – if we do what they ask of us; if we behave in a certain way; if we meet their expectations, or many other things. This “love” is largely performance-based. The same holds true for the form of “I love you” that really means “I love you when….” It also is largely conditional.

 

As I’ve pored over the Scriptures through the years, I’ve found God saying to us, “I love you” in a very different way. It’s not based on “if” or “because” or “when.” He says, “I love you…period.” No conditions or expectations attached.

 

When we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), Jesus’ declaration didn’t include any conditional words such as if, because, or when.

 

In fact, another verse makes it all the more clear that God’s love is unconditional. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Chronologically speaking, not one of us had committed our first sin when Jesus died on the cross – because we hadn’t been born yet. Not even a gleam in anyone’s eye at that point. We know the Lord wasn’t waiting for us to clean up our act first.

 

Another time Jesus told His followers, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This wasn’t some random philosophical statement. At this point in His ministry, Jesus had His sights unwaveringly set on Jerusalem and the sacrifice of His own life for our sins. Again, He added no stipulations or conditions.

 

We must never forget this. When we say, “I love you,” we may mean this in a variety of ways for a number of different reasons. But God’s “I love you” carries with it no caveats, no ifs or maybes.

The apostle John wrote, “How great the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are…” (1 John 3:1). It’s a love available to us all, to any of us, simply by accepting it – without conditions. How great is that? 

What Things Do You Find Difficult to Say?

My wife and I sometimes watch reruns of the long-running “Family Feud” TV game show. For this game, the studio audience is asked a series of questions, and then contestants try to guess which were the most common responses.

One of the questions on a particular episode concerned things people find difficult to say. This wasn’t referring to words hard to pronounce, but phrases people struggle to utter. For instance, three simple words – “I love you” – are very hard to some folks to say. There are probably many reasons for this: fear of making a commitment, reluctance to express inner feelings, previous bad experiences, or maybe, never having heard those words themselves growing up.

Ironically, some of the things people struggle to say consist of only two words. Here’s an example: “I’m sorry.” Even if they are deserved, apologies aren’t always easy to give. Along the same lines, and perhaps even more difficult, is “Forgive me.” Admitting wrongs – and also acknowledging the pain our wrongdoing or wrong-saying might have inflicted – for some is as easy as swallowing a stump.

Then there’s the phrase of ultimate commitment: “I do.” Being willing to walk down an aisle, or even stand before a justice of the peace, to get married can be a daunting prospect. Definitely not one to be taken lightly. Of course, there are some we know for whom “I do” hasn’t been hard to say at all. In fact, they’ve said it multiple times – to multiple people.

Early in life, many of us are introduced to a two-word phrase that can mean a lot, but it too is commonly forgotten: “Thank you.” ”Now, what do you say, Johnny?” For whatever reason, some people find verbalizing those words quite the challenge. 

Personally, I’m fond of these words – both saying them and hearing them. And think of how versatile they are. We can say “thank you” to someone who has just held the door for us, sacked our groceries, given us directions, fixed something broken in our home, presented us with a generous gift, or saved our life.

Which brings to mind what God has done for each of us. Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In fact, Christ died for us before we became sinners. How many sins had you actually ommitted when He died on the cross about 2,000 years ago?

And yet, another passage tells us, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:22-23). These are truths we shouldn’t gloss over quickly. If we believe what they say, we’ve been freed from the enslavement of sin; have been given the opportunity – and power – to pursuit holy, right living; and have been promised eternal life.

When was the last time you said “thank you” to God for that? Just a couple hours before writing this, I got a haircut and thanked my stylist. Yet what she did took only 15 minutes or so. It required no personal sacrifice or pain on her part, but I still expressed my appreciation to her.

On the cross, Jesus gave everything He had. He withstood pain and suffering none of us can fully imagine or understand. He willingly endured separation from His heavenly Father. Despite His perfect divinity, He encountered undeserved mocking and ridicule without complaint.

Have we told the Lord how thankful we are for what He did? Do we make a point, every day, of saying “thank you” for what is rightly termed his “unspeakable gift”?

For some, the first step in saying “thank you” is being willing to humbly receive the free gift Jesus offers. John 1:12 states, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And Romans 10:9-11 assures us:

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘’Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

Admitting we have sinned – missed the mark – and have fallen far short of God’s perfect standard is another of the hard things to say. But if we will do what the passage above says, it will launch us on an unforgettable, lifelong adventure. Then we will discover, as Ephesians 3:20 promises, He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Once we grasp that truth, that precious, unfailing guarantee, we can’t help saying to the Lord, “Thank you!” It won’t be difficult, and we’ll never stop – even when our days on this earth have ended.