What would…Lucifer do? (If you Google WWLD, this is what you’ll find first)

But there are some other ones that came up:

What would…[Ted] Lasso do? (Actually a great question that others have written about already).

What would…Lincoln do?

But that isn’t what I wanted to write about. None of those…

Instead:

What

Would

LOVE

Do?

I was talking with a good friend recently—who is trying to discern some things in his life. He said he has been asking a question that has been very helpful: “What would love do in this situation?”

I asked him later where he got this from, and he said he had been reading Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. She says it like this:

“The second foundational building block of the discernment process is the belief that love is our primary calling. This, too, may seem like a strange place to begin, accustomed as we are to thinking our way into decisions through intellectual exercises such as listing pros and cons. We may think our decisions are about the details of where we live, who we marry, what job we take, but for the Christian person, the choices we make are always about love and which choice enables us to keep following God into love. There may be other factors to consider, but the deepest question for us as Christian people is, What does love call for in this situation? What would love do?”

—Ruth Haley Barton (Chapter 7, “Discernment” from Sacred Rhythms).

I found this to be such a profound thought.

When we root the definition of love in the person of Jesus, we have so many layers to our answers. Love would set people free, speak the truth, heal, and battle evil. Love would sacrifice for others. And, in the words of the apostle Paul, “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” (I Corinthians 13–the whole definition of love is worth reading and meditating on). These definitions keep us from falling into the love that limit it to a feeling. Love moves toward people without being consumed by their agendas. Love is to “will the good of others.” (Dallas Willard).

Perhaps you are in a place where this question might help shed light on the situation. You’re facing a decision, a change, navigating a conflict, facing a challenge you’ve never faced before.

What would LOVE do?