The need to be loved is universal. It’s evident in an infant crying for their mother, or a lost 20-something searching for significance.

Not as commonly known is the need to give love. Each of us has the need to show love as much as we have the need to be loved.

Some people get it. They love like everyone is their brother or sister. Mother Teresa did this. Billy Graham still does this. Their hearts beat for humanity to love and be loved. They just ooze the stuff.

I don’t feel very loving

It’s hard to feel like loving sometimes, isn’t it? Maybe someone put you down and you’re feeling pretty low because of it. Or you just got some bad news that’s dragging you down.

In times like this, everything is magnified. Common sounds become annoying and teeth clenching. Phrases your spouse uses all the time suddenly crawl up your spine. You act like you love, but it doesn’t feel like you mean it.

You know the feeling. I sure do. It seems like I’m always called to love in times like these, too. I had a long day at work, but my wife had an even longer day with our fussy son. So on the way home I have to shake off wanting to crash on the couch and put on my big boy pants.

Because my family needs me to love.

We leak what we love

Bob Goff says we leak what we love. He tells the story of a plane that’s engine was designed to leak oil. It’s just part of the mechanics. And the plane loved oil. In fact, it couldn’t get enough of the stuff. But you could always tell if it ran out of oil, because it would stop leaking.

That plane isn’t the only thing designed to leak. As Bob says,

“We were made to leak as well; we were made to leak Jesus. We’re the ones who are supposed to love each other extravagantly, spontaneously, not just on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. And when we do, people might look at us a little funny, like there’s something wrong with us. But there isn’t. It’s what we were made to do. When we love each other extravagantly, our love gets on everybody and everything.”

What are you leaking today? Is it spite? Regret? Moping? Self-pity?

Maybe that’s true.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Linking love and passion

In James Emery White’s insightful new book, A Traveler’s Guide to the Kingdom, he draws out what moved Billy Graham to live into his calling of being an evangelical. Stephen Olford, Emery wrote, once reflected on a visit paid to Graham atop the New Yorker hotel just before his New York crusade in 1956.

“He [Olford] walked with him out on the balcony, and looking over the city, began to talk of the upcoming effort—about who would come, and how God might work.While they were talking, Stephen noticed that Graham began to break down in tears.He couldn’t help it—he was crying over the city.

His passion is for people to come to know Christ. That passion led to a life ripe with love for other people. He loved like he meant it. And he still does. Reading that, I couldn’t help but be extremely moved by his heart for the lost.

What you think when you read that gives you a good idea of where your heart is. Did you feel cynical? Did you feel like “yeah right?”

If so, you might want to do a heart check.

So what’s your passion? What makes your heart break for others? Plug into it and let it open your heart so you can start loving like you mean it.

Further Reading:

• Love Is The Weapon That Destroys All Evil: People in Rwanda are actually forgiving those that murdered their mothers, children, and brothers
• We Leak What We Love: We were made to leak as well; we were made to leak Jesus (this idea is expanded upon in Bob Goff’s new book, Love Does.)

Are you going to start loving like you mean it? What’s your passion?

Share in the comments.