Go On Walking in Love

 Betty Georges: “Go On Walking in Love” (Eph. 5:1, 2)

Question:

What would you say is one of the greatest gifts that we’ve received from Jehovah?

Interestingly, the comment that we’ll read in a few minutes from The Watchtower says that ‘perhaps one of the greatest gifts that we receive from Jehovah is our ability to worship him.’

And this gift goes hand in hand with another gift that Jehovah has given us, which is highlighted in today’s text, that is, our ability to love.

But when you think of an ability, an ability is only of value if it is developed and if it is put to good use. For example, a child is born with the ability to walk, but that ability will be of no value if it’s not developed and not put to use.

So here’s our question then: How can we continue to develop our ability to love?

Let’s consider two steps by imitating our loving Father, Jehovah. And that is what Paul encourages us to do. If we read together Ephesians 5:1, you notice there Paul says: “Become imitators of God, as beloved children.”

It’s very heartwarming to think that we can be like Jehovah. We can imitate him. But the question is how? How can we imitate Jehovah? The answer is in the first word. Paul starts by saying “therefore.”

Why? Well, the study note helps us to understand why. If we take the study note together with verse 1, you’ll notice it says that ‘Paul has just discussed some of God’s qualities, such as kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

So by opening with the word “therefore,” he suggests that contemplating or meditating on these qualities can motivate us to imitate Jehovah. And that makes sense. Isn’t it true? How do we imitate someone? Well, we first start by observing, and then we act.

Well, the same is true when imitating Jehovah. We need to observe him. How? By studying and by meditating on his Word. And meditation leads to motivation, which leads to application.

But the scripture is very encouraging because you’ll notice Paul did not say to imitate God as grown-ups, as adults, but, no, he says “as beloved children.” In other words, Jehovah is reasonable in what he expects of us.

The New English Bible renders this verse as: “Dear children, try to be like [God].” And we can have the picture of a child of four or five years old, trying to walk in his father’s shoes.

Well, you know, it’s not perfect, but he’s trying. But that act puts a smile on his father’s face. The same is true for Jehovah. He appreciates that we’re trying to be like him.

That takes us to our second step, and we find it in verse 2. Paul says to “go on walking in love.” So that’s our second step, “walking in love, just as the Christ also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice, a sweet fragrance to God”—a beautiful word picture when we think of the idea of walking, “walking in love.”

Walking is a form of exercise. So it’s as if Paul is saying that we need to exercise love; we need to practice love. The Easy-to-Read Version puts it: “We need to live a life of love”—“to live a life of love.”

And coming back to walking—walking is a simple form of exercise. Paul did not say running in love but simply “walking in love”—a simple form of exercise but effective—effective.

Love can be simple but can be very effective. An example: A few years ago, we were serving in Montreal, Canada, in the traveling work. We visited a congregation, and there we met a sister who was experiencing back problems.

And at the end of the visit, Crystal sent a little card expressing empathy because she herself had faced, or dealt with, back problems. Five years later, we met the sister. And—wouldn’t you know it?—she still had the card.

The simple act of love touched her so much that she kept the card. And I couldn’t help to think that Crystal must have taken—what?—maybe a few minutes to write the card.

And I must have spent countless hours preparing talks and delivering talks. I’m sure she didn’t remember a single word I said five years later, but she remembered the card. She kept the card—love, simple act but effective.

But the point is that it’s not just walking in love. You’ll notice two words precede “walking in love.” Paul says: “Go on walking in love.” Because if we stop, we stop being human, and Satan knows that.

Satan knows that it’s the best version of us; we are at our best when we give love and when we receive love. So we need to resist his efforts to dehumanize us by causing us to stop showing love.

And in verse 2, Paul highlights the best human example of showing love and walking in the love that we have, that of Jesus Christ. And notice the equation Paul highlights here. It says “just as the Christ also loved us and gave himself.”

So, then, from this we can extract the equation “to love” equals “to give.” And when I think of this ‘to love equals to give,’ right away I think of our dear brothers serving on Hospital Liaison Committees.

Their love moves them to give up their time, their energy, their resources to come to the assistance of their brothers in challenging times—the worst time ever, possibly—and also stressful times.

But they do it out of love, even though most of them don’t have a medical background. So these brothers definitely deserve our love and our respect. And that is also true for their families.

What is the reward, then, for continuing to develop our ability to love? Notice the reward at the end of verse 2. Paul is talking about Jesus’ sacrifice. He says his “sacrifice is a sweet fragrance to God.”

Well, the same is true for us. As we endeavor to imitate Jesus, as we endeavor to imitate Jehovah, we can be for Jehovah “a sweet fragrance.”

Or, in other words, we can cause him to have warm feelings toward us. In review, what have we learned? We’ve learned that we all have the ability to love; that’s why Jehovah made it a command, which is today’s text.

But this ability needs to be developed. We need to continue to develop it for it to be of value, for it to be useful. And we considered two ways we can do this: by imitating Jehovah, and a simple exercise, by walking in love.

And when we do, we can go on to live a life of love.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbvod24_36_VIDEO