“Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another” (John 13:34).

Years ago, singer/songwriter Steve Camp penned these words: “Don’t tell them Jesus loves them till you’re ready to love them too.” Sometimes, we’re willing to tell others of Jesus’ love only as long as we can do so from a safe distance — that is, without making an investment. But Jesus commands that we combine our words with action.

Love constitutes far more than what some individuals have received from Christians, such as pity, or a perfunctory donation, or a sanctimonious lecture. Love requires that we get “up close and personal” in order to substantiate the love about which we speak.

Some people will never make room for God’s love unless they first experience that love flowing through us. When we say, “Jesus loves you,” but refuse to offer that love through our actions, our listeners become angry or confused, and rightly so.

In the words of Mother Teresa, “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received, and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”

Talk is cheap, even when it constitutes great, eternal truths, if he who speaks has never personally experienced those great, eternal truths.

Today, if you realize that you’re quick to speak but slow to love, ask Jesus to flood your heart with His Spirit, changing you from the inside out so you’ll not only receive His love but also freely offer it to others.