I Love You More Than Words

March 17, 2025

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. 1 Peter 4:7-8 MSG

I frequently say to someone I love deeply, “I love you more than words.” I’m saying that words fail to express the depth of what I feel for them. But if that’s all it means, it’s fairly worthless. What I actually mean is that I love them with a depth that will take action to make life better or more meaningful for them in any way that I can. That’s what it means to love more than words.

Peter understood it. Life was chaotic and scary in his lifetime, in plentiful ways like life is for many of us today. He thought the world as they knew it was about to end – in some ways it did. The Christians faced intense persecution and the relative ease they initially had of following Jesus was over. So, as they headed into that unknown time, Peter told them, “Life as we know it could be wrapped up at any time. So don’t live casually and unintentionally. Take nothing and no one for granted. Treasure each moment. Stay alert, wide-awake, praying for each other. And – this is so important – love each other as if your very life depended on it, because it does! You have no idea how much you need each other and how devastated you will be when one of you is missing. You are so blessed to love and be loved. Deep, passionate, intentional love will make up for almost anything.”

Some of us can give heartfelt testimony to how true that is. A friend talked to me after his child who had been through a particularly annoying stage, pushing back on everything, moved several states away. He became so involved with his new life that Dad didn’t have the opportunity to engage much anymore. He wistfully shared, “I’d give a lot to have a week with some friendly opinion differences with him. I miss him so much. I don’t think he has any idea how much I love him.”

Vance Havner, a traveling preacher and author who was one of my dad’s favorites, said, “Count no day unimportant if you still have each other, for the day will come when you would give everything for just one day, any ordinary day, you once shared.” Absolute truth. So let us love, then, with more than words. John said, “My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality” (1 John 3:18-19 MSG). It’s the kind of love that requires intention but perfectly fits family, friends, even foes, and is for the whole world.

• What sacrificial action have you taken lately to “love more than words?” Whom is God bringing to your mind for you to love?