Have you ever thought about what you consider a sign of love?

The other day I was going through some photos from one of my trips to North Carolina, and I remembered an interesting scene that I observed while I was having lunch at a restaurant facing the ocean in Wilmington.

While I was eating and enjoying the beautiful scenery, a couple approached one of the tables in my line of vision. The man had white hair and he was in a wheelchair. I couldn’t tell the age of the woman. Maybe she was his wife or daughter, or someone else.

I got distracted, and when I looked back at them, their food had already been served, and the woman was feeding the man. Apparently, he couldn’t move his arms either.

When she finished feeding him, she took a napkin and cleaned the corners of his mouth. I thought that whoever she was, she was taking good care of him.

Then, she gently caressed the side of his face and his hair. When I saw that, I immediately thought, “she really loves him”.

Everything that she had done before, although were admirable gestures of kindness, could have been done out of obligation. Maybe she had to push his wheelchair, maybe she had to take care of him, maybe she had to feed him, for whatever reason.

Even if she felt obligated to do all those things for him, she didn’t have to show affection. And when she did, when she caressed his face, I knew she loved that man.

As I mentioned in this earlier post, some people dedicate their lives to reaching for the ones that society forgot about or chose to ignore. And the only way they can truly get through to those lost souls is by loving them.

But how can those who might not ever have contact with love know when they are truly being loved? They know it whenever someone does something to them or for them that they didn’t have to do. Like the woman at the restaurant in Wilmington.

If something is inconvenient to you, it will disrupt your life, it will not give you any reward (at least, not in this world), you won’t get anything out of it, and you do it anyway for someone else, that’s when you know it is out of love.

Jesus knew what He would have to face for us, and He made it clear that He would rather not do it, if possible:

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)

We can tell by these verses that Jesus knew that He was going to face something terrible shortly. He didn’t have to do it. He had a choice. It wouldn’t be pleasant for Him at all, and He knew it.

But He did it anyway. He did it out of love for the Father, to obey His will, and out of love for us, to save us.

This is what true love looks like.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)