Faith in the News Christian News
Here are five easy and simple ways to say “I love you” to someone.
Love Notes
Several years ago, in my days of frequent flying and training trips for the government, I would be gone for days and I’d get homesick of course, missing my wife and daughter, so when I got to the motel room, I’d find little love notes hidden in my luggage. I’d find them in places like tucked into my socks, in my shaving bag, and elsewhere throughout the week. I’d find different love notes like “We miss you. Please make sure you eat. We love you.” Those notes meant a lot to me because I was so far from home. In fact, I saved many of these love notes and still have them today. Those little notes told me my wife loved me. How precious that was to me. You can do the same thing. How is one way to say “I love you?” With handwritten notes that you can leave throughout the home or car and have them find them throughout the day or week.
By Doing
Love is a verb…it is what you do more than what you say. Jesus loved sinners enough do die for them, and His “I love you” was displayed no more vividly than on the cross. To do for others is an act of love more than saying “I love you” (which of course we should also do). Love is what you do and not as much what you say. When you do things for your spouse, children, friends, and co-workers, you show your love in action. Talk is cheap but action is much louder than words. Jesus said “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21), so we can say we love God but if we break His commandments, is that really true?
Reaffirmation
What better way to tell someone you love than by telling them in writing, doing for them, but also in reaffirming them. What I mean is tell someone, “I love you” because “You are something special” and that they’re the person “I want to spend the rest of your life with. If it’s a friend, tell them that “Friends are more and more valuable as we get older, and I value your friendship.” We can’t, or at least shouldn’t, take people for granted. The attitude of gratitude lifts us into a higher altitude and it puts wind beneath the wings of our friendships. The Bible says, “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov 18:24), and “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov 17:17). Of course, the thing applies to our sisters in Christ. Reaffirm your love for your spouse, your children, and your friends by telling them, “You are important to me. Thank you for being my friend. I won’t take you for granted.”
Make it Public
I can’t keep the secret that my wife is such a wonderful wife, mother, and a friend to so many. She is a prayer warrior and prays for many in the community that post prayer requests on Facebook. When I say anything in public about my wife or children, it is always something positive, and I’m not trying to flatter them…it’s the truth and I want people to know it. If we never boast or brag on those we love, they might feel invisible and that’s not the way we are supposed to live our lives in front of others. The Apostle Paul instructs us to “encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1st Thess 5:11), and to be “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20). Words hurt. They can tear down others and leave scars on the heart, but if you build up a person in the sense of speaking about them encouragingly to others (and to them!), you are doing what the Bible says. The world has enough negativity, so why not say something positive and tell people how you feel and why. It’s so encouraging when we build up others and especially in front of others. In fact, I think that enables others to be encouraging too and spurs them onto good works. Encouragement is contagious so why not spread it?
Conclusion
There are more ways than these to say “I love you” to someone special, so please, by all means, leave us a comment and tell us what you do to tell others, “I love you.” We can certainly leave them reminders around the house like little love notes that say “I love you…thank you,” and “I need you”; we can also show or affirm our love by doing for others, and in unexpected ways which makes it even more special; we can tell the person or persons what they mean to you and that you don’t take them for granted; and you can (and in fact, should) make it public. Tell others what your wife, children, friend, or co-worker means to you and do it publically, because this is what the Body of Christ is supposed to do. The world is busy tearing down Christians, so we must be about our Father’s business, and part of that business is building up one another, and what greater way to do that than to tell them, “I love you.”
May God richly bless you
Pastor Jack Wellman
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