“I love you.”
Words that bring comfort, peace, and joy to our heart. Sometimes our words can fall flat and others need to see you take action and demonstrate love. These eight different ways to show love will get you started.
Words without action
Sometimes our words can be hollow. Have you ever had someone profess to love you, yet you knew they didn’t really know you well enough to profess such affection? Or they declared their love for you, yet their behavior suggested something different? How about someone professing they were sorry for something they had done or said but never resulted in any change in behavior? Or how about ever hearing a quick, “praying for you” as someone turned to leave? Did it ever leave you wondering if their profession was genuine or just as empty as a conversation about the weather?
While words can bring comfort and encouragement, sometimes our actions have a bigger impact and underscore the sincerity of our sentiments.
Every February there is a heightened emphasis on expressions of love thanks to the celebration of Valentine’s Day. So, it seemed like a fitting time to explore other ways we could express love besides just declaring it verbally.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
8 Different Ways to Show Love
- Listen Without Interrupting – When we give someone our full attention, listen intently without interrupting or thinking about how we will respond, we show love by demonstrating that their concerns are a priority.
- Pray Without Ceasing – When we offer to pray for someone and we continue to do so until those prayers are answered, that demonstrates love by communicating that their concerns are a concern to us as well.
- Thanking Without Grumbling – anyone can find fault with situations, but it shows love when we can look past the discomfort or the frustration and instead of complaining, find something to be thankful for. That builds up rather than tearing down.
- Forgive Without Condemning – One of the greatest demonstrations of love we can offer is to forgive someone who has wronged us, and choose not to retaliate, condemn, or punish them in the process. True forgiveness means we no longer reserve the right to determine their fate, but we release them to God who will work in their heart for their good and His glory.
- Promise Without Forgetting – When someone makes a promise then doesn’t see it through to completion, it sends the message that they are not trustworthy and they don’t care enough for another to make them a priority. When we keep our promises, we demonstrate our love by proving ourselves trustworthy and committed.
- Speak Without Accusing – We can profess our love to someone but when we speak accusingly to someone, we place more priority on being right or proving a point than on caring for another’s feelings, self-esteem, or growth. Speaking without accusation is another way of sharing love without saying the words, “I love you.”
- Answer Without Arguing – While we cannot control what others say to us, we can choose our response. Engaging in an argument places a higher priority on being right than on respect and unity. So answering someone without arguing is another demonstration of love because it indirectly places another’s needs before our own need to prove our innocence or someone else’s failure.
- Give Without Expectation – When we give something, whether material goods, time, or affection to another, when we expect something in return (even just a certain reaction), it cheapens the gift and turns it into an “exchange.” Giving freely with no expectation for reaction or reciprocation shows selfless love.
So, while we have the opportunity to share love with our words, our actions back up those sentiments. How will you demonstrate your love to others this week?
Because of Him,
#LovePrevails!
(If you have a question you’d like Dr. B to answer, contact her here now. Your name and identity will be kept confidential.)
Depression doesn’t have to become a permanent part of life.
There is hope.
Hope Prevails: Insights From a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression and the companion Hope Prevails Bible Study help the reader understand how depression comes to be, recover their joy, reclaim their peace, and re-establish their true identity, while knowing their worth, remembering their secure destiny, and being confident that nothing separates them from God’s love.
Hope Prevails and the Hope Prevails Bible Study are must-reads for anyone suffering from depression or knows someone suffering from depression.
“There are many fine, worthy, and insightful books written about depression but in my view, Dr. Bengtson’s trumps them all. Our first step of making it to the other side of the valley of depression may well be falling into the competent and compassionately written words of this God-honoring book: Hope Prevails.” ~ Marilyn Meberg, Speaker, Women of Faith
Hello. This is a beautiful and helpful post. Thank you. 🙂
Great things to keep in mind.
Great advice!
Eight great suggestions!
Such great advice. Blessed to be your neighbor at Coffee for your Heart today!
These are seriously hard statements to flesh out! A great challenge. Thank you for sharing. Happy Wednesday, from the #TellHisStory linkup!
Megs
Oh goodness. which is the best? I have no idea. such wisdom! If believers could just learn to do one or 2 of them, how great of an impact would it make on our families, communities and world!
So wise and so practical. Friendship has been on my heart a lot lately, and these 8 ways are so vital to any relationship. Thanks for sharing, Michelle.
I do enjoy your tweets, and tweeted most of them. Give without expecting a return because that would be an exchange. So wise. Then I am reminded of the great exchange. I give Him my sin and He gives me his Robe of Righteousness. Thank you for sharing with us here at Tell me a Story.
All wonderful, Christ-like ways to show love! Thanks for sharing at Literacy Musing Mondays.
None of those are easy, but they are all beautiful demonstrations of love.
So wise and so well said.
Practical and Biblical helpful tips. Thx for sharing
Oh wow, this is so good in how to show love!!! I have had people say they love me and then stab me in the back the next moment. That isn’t love!!! But I love listen without interrupting, and the give without expectation (the Lord taught us that one and a Bible study I went to years ago, and the speak without accusing. All of them are so good and if done will result in that spouse or other person knowing that you truly love them. Oh this helps so much and just encourages me that we are doing things right and have some areas we need to work on. Thank you for always having such awesome helpful insights that all are according to God’s Word and TRUTH!! Love you Dr. Michelle!!
Karen, I’m sure there are many more things that could have been included on that list. But even if we make a concerted effort to consistently do one or two or three of these things, I think everyone around us will be much better off! I suspect you are doing more right than you realize, or you wouldn’t have so many people ask you to pray for them.
So love this message! Yes, we have learned over many years of loving each other, my hubby and I, what is each other’s love language. For my hubby it is affirmation (love without interrupting, and really all of them apply). He helps me with so many things due to my tremor and he does it with so much affection (love). Not many men will wash dishes when it makes their back hurt standing at the sink. A true action to validate his words. Thank you for sharing this message. I pray many will read and apply to their love life. Love you Dr. Michelle and I really mean it.
Thank you for sharing these very worthwhile and Godly ways to demonstrate love.
My husband and I participated in a small group at our church where we did a marriage Bible Study and one of the suggestions was if your spouse did something to bother you that wasn’t really a big deal, but more of an annoyance, refrain from saying anything and just let it go. I didn’t realize my husband had decided to test that as I did until we discussed our homework in the end and celebrated what a great week we had! lol. No little squabbles here and there, but just let some things go and were both happier for it. 🙂
Great and timely post. laurensparks.net
Well, here we are at Valentine’s Day again and your 8 ways to show love are just as relevant as they were when originally written. I will do what I always do for my sweetheart and that is to write him a ‘love note’ to tell him how much he is loved but I have been able to put my love into action by caring for him while he has been sick. It was so hard that first week because we were both sick and it was really hard to care for him when I felt so bad too but I hope he knew even though I couldn’t do all I wanted to do for him. I tuck him in at night and pray over him and he has told me how much that blesses him. So I appreciate this Valentine’s Day (every day) even more because my sweetie is still here with me to celebrate. I do LOVE this message.
Karen,
I’m so glad to hear that you are both feeling better. I know you’ll appreciate Valentine’s Day so much more now that you’re feeling better!