HOPE OF ALL THE EARTH
What the Lord Commanded
December 22, 2025
SCRIPTURE
MATTHEW 1:24
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
MATTHEW 1:24
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Some of us may remember the 'gos hit "Teardrop" by the musical group Massive Attack. The opening lines went, "Love, love is a verb, love is a doing word."
Massive Attack would, perhaps, have been surprised to discover what gifted theologians they were because, on one level, this is a perfect way to describe biblical love. It's not an abstract concept; it's not a feeling; it's not something that comes and goes with our mood. No, scriptural love is as sure and strong as gravity. In the Bible, love is the first and last word in every conversation between God and his created world. Love is the driving force in salvation history, and it is always active, always moving, always doing.
Every time Joseph appears in the Gospel of Matthew, he perfectly demonstrates this truth. He makes three major decisions in the opening chapters. The first is here in chapter 1, where he obeys the command of God and takes Mary as his wife. The next two are in the following chapter: he takes his young family to Egypt to escape Herod's massacre and later he returns to Israel and settles in Nazareth. Both of these decisions follow the same pattern as chapter 1--the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream, and Joseph got up and obeyed.
Joseph's love for God wasn't something vague or abstract. It wasn't a concept or an idea. It was rock solid, and it was active. The truth is, it can never be anything else—for him, or for us. Genuine love will always result in action. Like Joseph, our love for God and for neighbour will always compel us to get up and act, to get up and work, to get up and move.
The action doesn't save us; our obedience doesn't earn us more of God's favour, more of his blessing. Our loving service is always a response to what God has already done and what he has already given.
What action is love inspiring us to take in our own lives? How is our love for God and for neighbour compelling us to work, to move, to give? If our love doesn't express itself in action, if it doesn't inspire our words and our deeds, we have to ask ourselves: how genuine is it?
God's people are called and commanded to love him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This love will never be contained in a Valentine's card. It will always be expressed through our hands and feet, our time and money, in our work and our family life. It will always express itself in who we are and what we do. It will flow from us into the world around us as we follow Joseph's example and get up and put our love into action.
This action may be costly. Doing love is always harder than feeling love. But it's always worth it.
Joseph's love led to his being a link in the chain of salvation history. May we, like him, get up and allow our love to express itself in those countless little ways that together will change the world.
With apologies to Massive Attack, love isn't only a verb; it's also, in grammatical terms, a proper noun because the most perfect way we can understand love is that it is a Person. His name is Jesus.
Massive Attack would, perhaps, have been surprised to discover what gifted theologians they were because, on one level, this is a perfect way to describe biblical love. It's not an abstract concept; it's not a feeling; it's not something that comes and goes with our mood. No, scriptural love is as sure and strong as gravity. In the Bible, love is the first and last word in every conversation between God and his created world. Love is the driving force in salvation history, and it is always active, always moving, always doing.
Every time Joseph appears in the Gospel of Matthew, he perfectly demonstrates this truth. He makes three major decisions in the opening chapters. The first is here in chapter 1, where he obeys the command of God and takes Mary as his wife. The next two are in the following chapter: he takes his young family to Egypt to escape Herod's massacre and later he returns to Israel and settles in Nazareth. Both of these decisions follow the same pattern as chapter 1--the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream, and Joseph got up and obeyed.
Joseph's love for God wasn't something vague or abstract. It wasn't a concept or an idea. It was rock solid, and it was active. The truth is, it can never be anything else—for him, or for us. Genuine love will always result in action. Like Joseph, our love for God and for neighbour will always compel us to get up and act, to get up and work, to get up and move.
The action doesn't save us; our obedience doesn't earn us more of God's favour, more of his blessing. Our loving service is always a response to what God has already done and what he has already given.
What action is love inspiring us to take in our own lives? How is our love for God and for neighbour compelling us to work, to move, to give? If our love doesn't express itself in action, if it doesn't inspire our words and our deeds, we have to ask ourselves: how genuine is it?
God's people are called and commanded to love him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This love will never be contained in a Valentine's card. It will always be expressed through our hands and feet, our time and money, in our work and our family life. It will always express itself in who we are and what we do. It will flow from us into the world around us as we follow Joseph's example and get up and put our love into action.
This action may be costly. Doing love is always harder than feeling love. But it's always worth it.
Joseph's love led to his being a link in the chain of salvation history. May we, like him, get up and allow our love to express itself in those countless little ways that together will change the world.
With apologies to Massive Attack, love isn't only a verb; it's also, in grammatical terms, a proper noun because the most perfect way we can understand love is that it is a Person. His name is Jesus.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
What does it mean for love to be a verb rather than an emotion that we feel?
What action is love inspiring you to take in your life?
What does it mean for love to be a verb rather than an emotion that we feel?
What action is love inspiring you to take in your life?
PRAYER
Write a prayer asking God to help you understand more deeply the character of love as action.
Write a prayer asking God to help you understand more deeply the character of love as action.