On New Year’s Day of this year, who would have thought that by mid-March some new terms would have taken over our vocabulary?  Words like Coronavirus, COVID-19, and social distancing.  Welcome to the new world of working and doing school from home, fighting for toilet paper and being isolated in a socially connected world. 

This is a time where fear and uncertainty can easily take over our minds; and while it’s important to remind ourselves of the peace we can only find in Christ, and that God is in control, I want to encourage you to love. More specifically, I want to encourage you to love stretched out. No, not stretched out on your couch while catching up on your favorite shows…stretched out like Peter encourages us to love. 

In 1 Peter 4:8, Peter says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” Now, reading it in our English translation, it’s easy to miss what Peter is really saying here. In the Greek, the word translated as “earnestly” or “fervently” in that verse means “to be stretched out, or completely taut.” It has the word picture of a rubber band stretched as far out as it can go – to it’s maximum potential.  

This is a dramatically different love than saying, “Hey – I love you, man!” and going on your way. This is a love that causes us to get out of our comfort zone, to go and meet a need, to give sacrificially. It’s a love that looks beyond the surface level and sees the real need underneath…and then does something to meet that need. It’s the kind of love that can radically change someone’s life, because they were loved as Jesus loved. You see, when Jesus loved us, he truly loved stretched out. It’s a love like the world had never seen before. And it’s a love that Peter is calling us to show to others. This is an unprecedented time in history, and it’s a time where the church can truly stand out and shine God’s love in a way that can change the world. So let’s set aside our fear, anxiety and selfishness, and show love stretched out to its maximum potential to a scared and isolated world.