SAY I LOVE YOU WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE

 Jon Huber passed away December 26, 2020. 10 days after turning 41. Jon Huber was known as Luke Harper under the WWE umbrella. Under the AEW umbrella he was known as Brodie Lee. His passing took a lot of people by surprise. As I read tribute after tribute, one dominating thing I saw over and over was tell your family and friends that you love them. That got my mind working. How often do I tell my family and friends that love them? Why is that such a battle to say those three words "I love you" to somebody but it's easy to say I love God. I love Jesus.

1 John 4:18-20 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath not seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"

One commentator said, "It is easy to say we love God when it doesn't cost us anything more than weekly attendance at religious services. But the real test of our love for God is how we treat the people right in front of us."

So what is the problem? Maybe it's the fact that some of us have never experience what love truly is. We have experienced a generational fabrication of what was told to be love but it is really poison being passed down. 1 John 4:8 "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." So it also could be we're trying to love people without keeping God in it. Some of us are trying to show the love of God without God. 2 Timothy 3:5 says, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." I know this is against God himself to post other versions of the Bible other than KJV to some, but the English Standard Version of the same verse says, "having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

If this pandemic taught us anything, especially in the body of Christ, it should've taught us that we don't need to dress for convocation to get into God's presence. The song writer said, "Won't He make you clean inside." The late Bishop G E Patterson said, "Salvation is an inside job." Another song comes to mind that says, "Something on the inside, working on the outside, oh what a change in my life."

Back on topic. Do your love ones know that you love them? Do they know just by what you say, or does your actions show it also? 4 years ago, I spent my Christmas in the hospital. While my family was opening gifts and eating Christmas dinner, I had oxygen in my nose and eating hospital food. I bring this up because my Mom and Grandma took me to the hospital. That's love through action. They could've just said like some people in the church say, "I'll be praying for you." DC Talk has a song that says, "Love is a verb." I've never been in a relationship, but I do know that if you tell your partner you love them, but never show the love, what you say means nothing. How you show the love is just as if not more important than how you say it.

I know I'm guilty of not saying I love you when I probably should. I'm guilty of not initiating the fact that I love someone. Saying I love you too to somebody is easier for me to say than to just come out and say it first. It's hard for me to openly express my love for someone or something out of fear of being trashed for feeling how I feel. I'm still in that learning process of learning how to like and love myself. I'm still learning how to stop feeling guilty about making decisions that will positive affect my mental capacity. I understand it's easy to roll your eyes when the subject of mental health comes up because some still chooses to believe that it's not real. It's also easy to deny something is real when you've never had to deal with it. Like some people still saying that the pandemic is not real, only for the same people to find out that it is real when it's too late.

2020 has shown that death has no age limit. Richard Pryor said in one of his specials, "Death don't [care] where it go. If it gets a two for one that's a good day for death." That has definitely rang true in 2020. I heard someone say years ago, "Appreciate what you have today cause it may not be there tomorrow." Appreciate your parents today. Appreciate the elders that are still here today. If you have any friends, appreciate them today. Appreciate the roof over your head today. Appreciate God today.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson