A couple months ago a fun trend started popping up on social media. Someone would post a topic and challenge people to show they identify with the topic without actually stating the topic by name. It’s kind of a spin off of Charades or Taboo.

For example, I might post, “Tell me you’re a parent of a toddler without telling me your a parent of a toddler.” Then someone could respond with, “Well… he’s not going to go off to college in diapers, right?!” or “I didn’t realize that I could ruin someone’s life by cutting an apple the wrong way.“

I didn’t realize it until now – the whole idea of showing-something-without-saying-it-thing kinda reminds me of God’s take on love, actually.

In John’s second letter to his Christian peers, he reminds them of the core principle of our faith – LOVE – and that God commands us to LIVE OUT love. He says:

“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another just as you heard from the beginning.“

2 John 1:6 NLT 1996

Love means DOING what God has commanded us – love one another. This is a call to action. This is “tell me you love me without telling me you love me.”

I know this. I’ve heard it before many times. Most of us have, right? But how am I putting it into practice? What does this actually look like in my life today? If I couldn’t use words, would the people in my life know that I love them?

I’m a big fan of 30-day challenges. I think this calls for one. Starting today, each day for 30 days I’m going to find a person I can show love to without words. That means I’m going to tell a different person every day that I love them without telling them that I love them. (This is a much bigger challenge than it seems – I really, really like words.)

How do YOU show love to the people in your life? Comment below or email me privately at Emily@messyworship.com to share ideas, tips or join me in this challenge!!

Prayer: Dear Lord, the command to love isn’t a new one. However, I know sometimes I take the easy way out and just speak love when I know you call me to do more. Help me to see the people in my life who need more love and give me the energy and creativity to love them with my actions like you do for me. Amen.

Photo by Alejandra Ezquerro on Unsplash