Love is a funny thing. Maybe it is something we have experienced or can recognize when we see it, but it is intangible and hard to describe. It is something we give and something we receive, but where does it come from? It is something we feel but it is more than an emotion. Love can cause us both happiness and sorrow. It can be “tough” or “mushy gushy.” We can fall into it and out of it, but who can explain why?
The teen in the video we are about to watch acts with radical love for the people around him. Let’s take a look.
Play the following video [1:00; stop at 0:42]:
Teen Uses Trampoline To Save Neighbors From Apartment Fire
- How did the teen in the video show love? (He looked out for others’ needs, he entered a potentially dangerous situation to save his neighbors, etc.)
- How was the love he showed different than the love we most often think or hear about love in our culture? (It was sacrificial love, it was neighborly rather than romantic, it required actions rather than just feelings, etc.)
- After watching this video, how would you describe love? How does this compare with how culture typically describes it? (Accept all reasonable responses.)
- Where have you experienced love? Where do your ideas about love come from? (Our friends and family show us love—often in imperfect and sometimes in very powerful ways. We sometimes experience love most when we are down and someone is there for us. Additionally, the stories we watch, read, and listen to shape our ideas about love. All of this, for better or worse.)
- How would you attempt to illustrate love? (Accept all reasonable answers. This is an open-ended prompt to help students picture what love looks like. Later you can compare this to the Bible’s description and to what our lives actually look like.)
The Bible gives a detailed description of love—in flowery language and then in straightforward terms about what it is and isn’t. Love is so important to the Christian faith that it should define who we are as Christians. We all have the capacity and responsibility to live lives of love according to the gifts we have been given.
