According to Gary Chapman, there are five love languages:
1: Words of Affirmation
2: Acts of Service
3: Receiving Gifts
4: Quality Time
5: Physical Touch
We all want to feel loved, but every person feels loved differently. For example, I am 100% words of affirmation and quality time. Saying something nice to me will absolutely make my day! Acts of service is high on that list too. But receiving gifts and physical touch are not exactly my preferred language. What is interesting about love languages is the way you feel loved, tends to be the way you give love too.
Maybe that’s why I’ve never been big on gifts. Please, don’t get me wrong- I like gifts, they just don’t give the loved feeling. For me, I love a well, thought out, intentional gift. I would much prefer a handmade anything to an expensive piece of jewelry or electronic device. For me, it’s about the thought and quality.
As I was reading Colossians for a school assignment, I started reflecting on 1:22-23, “He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.”
He has given you the GIFT of reconciliation in order to present you as Holy and Blameless!
It’s a GIFT!
But wait… there’s more… If you continue in the faith? As I studied this, I learned that Paul meant this as more of an encouragement than an ultimatum, but still it has implication. You have to continue in that faith.
You have to use that GIFT, not put it on a shelf…
Maybe it is because it’s Christmas… but as I had that thought, I thought about a gift or two I received, said thank you, and put up on a shelf to never use again.
Why? I didn’t really want it. I didn’t really care. It wasn’t something I felt a need for.
Ouch!
These are the exact reason people would reject Jesus’ gift. Maybe some people have received the gift of redemption through Christ, said thanks, and never used it… Oh how sad! I would feel horrible if I had put that much thought, love, and care into a gift that cost me everything… and it was rejected…
Even if your love language isn’t receiving gifts, you have to understand the love, thought, and purpose put into this gift of Jesus. He’s the main event!
- 16. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
- 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
- 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
- 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
- 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you? You get to receive that gift!
- 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
- 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
I pray that you can see the gift Christ has given us as freely given, but you cannot just put it on a shelf and forget about it! Use it! Everyday! Live for Him! Show others to do the same!
Chapman, Gary D. The 5 Love Languages. Northfield Pub., 2015.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 1:16–23.