One of the core aspects of God’s character is love. The love of God, agape love, is giving and sacrificial. This beautiful, selfless love was demonstrated most clearly at the cross. As believers, we know that while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.

As followers of Christ, we know that we were commanded to love – to love God, our neighbors and even our enemies!

With that said, the verse I want to look at today is 1 Corinthians 16:14.

In this chapter, Paul was giving his final instructions to the church in Corinth, which are summarized in the words “Let all that you do be done in love.”

This is a simple but powerful rule that calls us to do everything in a spirit of love. In other words, our actions should not be motivated by selfishness or anything other than love, for both God and others.

This verse goes along with many other verses, that teach us how to live as children of God. We are told to walk in love (Eph 5:2) We are told to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). We are told to give in love (1 Cor 13:3) We are told to be patient and bear with one another in love (Eph 4:2) We are told to love not only in our words but in our actions. (1 John 3:18)

So all of this can be summed up in “Let all that you do be done in love.” How can we apply this to our lives daily?

If the word “all” in 1 Corinthians 16:14 applies to our daily actions…then shouldn’t it apply to actions that we might not give much thought to, but actions that are not inconsequential? For example, what we choose to eat, to wear, and to support with our dollars. The reality is, we cannot live in a vacuum. We have to understand that our daily actions support certain practices, and many of those practices are extremely cruel, even evil. So it’s important to be aware of what we are supporting, because we wouldn’t knowingly support evil actions, so why would we want to do it unknowingly?

A common response from meat-eaters is, “I don’t support animal abuse, but there are humane farms and it’s possible to kill an animal humanely.” I used to think that way. In fact, I remember as I was getting closer to becoming vegan, that was something I began to question… Is it possible to love animals, yet eat them, as long as things are done humanely? I finally realized that it doesn’t matter how you kill an anima… if you kill an animal who desperately wants to live, when you don’t have to, when you can simply eat something else that doesn’t involve killing a sentient being. then how can it be humane? Humane means showing compassion. How is it compassionate to needlessly kill an innocent animal, a creation of God, who wants to live just as much as you and I do, for my own selfish reasons?

It gets back to doing all things in love. Is it loving for me to forcibly separate a calf from his mother so I can drink the milk meant for him, when I don’t have to? Is it loving for me to eat eggs, when baby male chicks are shredded alive, because they are useless to the egg industry? Is it loving for me to pay someone to slit the throat of a pig (a pig who is just as smart or even smarter than my dog) causing immense pain and suffering, when I don’t have to? Is it loving for me to support viciously cruel practices like trapping and at times skinning an animal alive, so I can wear his fur, when I don’t have to? Is it loving for me to take what is most important to an animal – their very life – when I don’t have to?

No. It is not loving. It is selfish. Let’s be honest.

“Let all that you do be done in love.” All includes the choices we make daily. If we believe in love, mercy, kindness and non-violence, then let’s let those values be aligned with our daily choices. We can do that by making the firm decision to no longer support the cruel, profit-driven animal industries, industries that treat God’s creations like mere objects, commodities, and in many cases, like garbage.

Jesus said that people will know we are His followers by our love. Not a love that is limited to our own circle, but a bigger love and a respect for all of God’s creation. One great way to demonstrate that love is by going vegan. As Christians, let’s be set apart from the world, by choosing love, peace, non-violence and by honoring God’s original intent and perfect will!