Dr. Dan Hayden •
So, how do you know if someone really loves you? Well, you could pick petals off a daisy – “She loves me, …she loves me not.” On the other hand, there may be a better way.
How do you know if someone really loves you? Well, there’s a verse in God’s Word that speaks to this question.
I John 3:16 says, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Then in verse eighteen, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
Did you notice the two contrasts in verse eighteen? Not “with word”, but “with deed.” Not “with tongue”, but “with truth”. Now that’s basically saying that love has more to do with what you do than with what you say. The point is–what you do gives meaning to what you say. You see, that’s how you know. Verse sixteen says, “We know love by this…”
This word in the Greek text is ginosko and it means: to come to know, to learn about, to find out. Also, this word is in a tense of the verb that means “to know so that you’re sure about it.”
“We know love by this.” Well, by what? By your willingness to give, instead of take. How do you know that God loves you? Because “He laid down His life” for you. How will someone know that you really love them? Because you will sacrifice yourself for them. You will sacrifice your time, your energy, your resources. That’s how you know.
Hey – are you a giver or a taker?