How's Your Love Life? - Week Six

How Do We Love Others?

As we wrap up this six-week series looking at loving God, loving ourselves and loving others, we're at the point where we ask "How do we love others?" Is it really as difficult as it seems? Is it even possible to love everyone? Let's look at 3 simple things we can do in order to fulfill God's greatest commandment.... "to love one another as I have loved you!"

1) Care - Simply showing people that we care about them shows love. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 13:3, "If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it: but if I didn't love (care for) others, I would have gained nothing." Are we walking the talk of love?

2) Bear - Are you willing to love others by bearing their burdens; by taking time to focus on their needs instead of your own? Better yet, what about following Colossians 3:13 - "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Hmmm....

3) Share - We show others our love by sharing our time, talent and treasure with them. Hebrews 13:16 reminds us "...to do good and share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God." Sometimes sharing requires sacrifice on our part, but know that's the kind that makes God smile!

How's Your Love Life? - Week Five

Did you know that 79% of US adults think that Christianity is more about organized religion and a list of rules than it is about loving God and loving others?  How are you showing love for God, yourself and others to 79 out of 100 people today?

WHY do we love others?

1) Because God said so!  The Bible is full of commands, but according to Romans 13:9-10, the law of love fulfills all the other commands. In the book of John, Jesus reminds us that "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (14:15). What is that command? "Love each other as I have loved you" (15:12).

2) So the world will know God's love!  Just before Jesus went to the cross - to show His ultimate love for us - He gave His disciples a new command: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men (the world) will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).  It doesn't get any simpler than that!

3) So that peace prevails!  Proverbs 17:9 tells us that the person who covers over an offense promotes love. Why do we love others? To keep the peace in our lives, in the lives of others and ultimately, in the world.

I ask you again - How is the world seeing your love for God and others today? Are they seeing you follow a "religion"; a set of rules and regulations or are they seeing God's love lived out through you?

How's Your Love Life? - Week Four

How Do We Love Ourselves?

Did you read all the things God loves about you in the photo above? In order to recognize our worth, we have to truly grasp and believe how valuable we are to God!  We are so special to Him, that He sent His Son to die for us - even while we were still sinners....don't forget this important truth!

So how do we love ourselves in a healthy and balanced way?  Three things we must do...

1) We must choose to receive God's love = His gift of salvation
God's gift of eternal life is for everyone - not just those who appear to have it all together. Romans 6:23 reminds us that the wages of sin is eternal death but the gift of God is eternal life! Have you received His gift? If you have questions on how to do this, please don't hesitate to contact me.

2) We must choose to refuse to be deceived into thinking we have to be more or do more to deserve love. The Enemy wants us to think we have to do more good or be more "spiritual" in order for God to love us, in order for us to be worthy of loving ourselves and capable of loving others. Don't fall for his lies - he is the deceiver and father of lies. Ephesians 5:6a reminds us not to be deceived with empty, useless words.

3) We must choose to believe God's Truth.
Scripture is full of the truth of God's love for us and the value that comes from being His workmanship (Eph. 2:10)...we just have to choose to believe His Word or believe the lies of the Enemy. The world is full of ways that get us to focus on how we don't measure up to its standards of looks, money, success, worth, etc. These are traps we must not fall into - instead set your mind and focus on God and His Truth about you.

Action: Receive God's Love......Refuse to be Deceived...and Believe God's truth that you are worth loving!

How's Your Love Life? - Week Three

What Does Loving Yourself Look Like?

Mark 12:31 continues Jesus' greatest commandment with..."Love your neighbor as yourself..." Here you have another example of how we are to love others - the same way you love yourself. But what does loving yourself look like? I can tell you what it's NOT. It's not a self-absorbed, "the world revolves around me" type of attitude. It's not focused only on what you can get from everyone and everything without a thought of giving back and so much more.

This week's lesson looks at the familiar "love chapter" - I Corinthians 13:4-8. These verses are normally noted for the attributes of love we are to show others, but let's turn it around for a minute and look at how they can help us know how to love ourselves in a healthy and balanced way and then we will know how to, in turn, love others.

Take a minute to download the handout and listen to the audio lesson --> here!

Love in Action:: Choose one attribute of love from this lesson and focus on it this week. Search for scriptures related to it, ask God to help you strengthen this area of love for yourself and others and then SHARE it with us here!

How's Your Love Life? - Week Two

We Love God.....

1) With all our heart --> our actions.  One of the ways we show our love for God through our actions is by watching what comes out of our mouths! For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt. 12:34b

2) With all our soul --> our feelings. God wants our love through our actions, but now emotionless actions which can turn into simply going through the motions for the sake of motion. He wants us to do what we do for Him with passion!  But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.  Joshua 22:5

3) With all our mind --> our thoughts. God knows our thoughts (Psalm 94:11) and the motives behind our thoughts. We need to be more than just an intellectual believer - we are commanded to love God with our actions, feelings and thoughts. And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him (action) with wholehearted devotion (feeling) and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  I Chronicles 28:9

4) With all our strength --> our entire being. We cannot compartmentalize our love for God - it has to come from everything we are made up of - heart, soul and mind! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Psalm 150:6

"Everything in your Christian life; everything about knowing Him and His will, depends on the quality of your love relationship with God."  ~ Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God

How's Your Love Life? - Week One

Welcome to Week One of our study, How's Your Love Life? Loving God, Yourselves and Others. This study will be recorded live every Tuesday at 7:30p (EST) for the next 5 weeks. Please join us anytime - it's FREE and flexible. You can sign up ------> here!

Before we can love God, ourselves and others, we have to recognize and receive God's love for us. This is something many of us struggle with - comprehending how He can love us the way He does? Let's look at three ways God loves...

God's Love For Us Is....

1) Unconditional = without conditions or limits. God doesn't have a check-list He's using to see if we're ready or deserving of His love. He's not waiting for us all to get our act together before He'll love us. Romans 5:8 tells us that "But God demonstrated/showed His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

2) Unending = without end; forever faithful. God loves us with an unfailing love! Psalm 100:5 reminds us "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Not only is God's love unending, so is His faithfulness.

3) Unmistakable = cannot be mistaken; a clear example. One of the last commands Jesus left with His disciples is found in John 15:12, "...Love each other as I have loved you." He didn't just leave it at "Love one another." He used himself as a clear, unmistakable example of how to love.

* Application: Have you recognized and received God's love as unconditional or are you still trying to earn His love? Have you recognized and received God's love as unending or are you fearing that He will give up on you? Have you recognized and received God's love as unmistakable or are you wondering if He really does love you?

* Action: Spend time this week reading and meditating on I John 4: 7-21. Underline the words love / loved / loves.

The Spit of the Soldiers

As we prepare to remember the painful death of our Savior and celebrate His triumphant resurrection this week, I want to share a devotion from one of my favorite authors, Max Lucado. Don't miss the another great resource at the end.....

The Spit of the Soliders: The whipping was the first deed of the soldiers.The crucifixion was the third. (No, I didn’t skip the second. We’ll get to that in a moment.) Though his back was ribboned with wounds, the soldiers loaded the crossbeam on Jesus’ shoulders and marched him to the Place of a Skull and executed him.

We don’t fault the soldiers for these two actions. After all, they were just following orders. But what’s hard to understand is what they did in between. Here is Matthew’s description:
Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified. The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and they all gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head. After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Matt. 27:26–31 NCV)

The soldiers’ assignment was simple: Take the Nazarene to the hill and kill him. But they had another idea. They wanted to have some fun first. Strong, rested, armed soldiers encircled an exhausted, nearly dead, Galilean carpenter and beat up on him. The scourging was commanded. The crucifixion was ordered. But who would draw pleasure out of spitting on a half-dead man?

Spitting isn’t intended to hurt the body—it can’t. Spitting is intended to degrade the soul, and it does. What were the soldiers doing? Were they not elevating themselves at the expense of another? They felt big by making Christ look small.

Allow the spit of the soldiers to symbolize the filth in our hearts. And then observe what Jesus does with our filth. He carries it to the cross.

Through the prophet he said, “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isa. 50:6 NIV). Mingled with his blood and sweat was the essence of our sin.

God could have deemed otherwise. In God’s plan, Jesus was offered wine for his throat, so why not a towel for his face? Simon carried the cross of Jesus, but he didn’t mop the cheek of Jesus. Angels were a prayer away. Couldn’t they have taken the spittle away?

They could have, but Jesus never commanded them to. For some reason, the One who chose the nails also chose the saliva. Along with the spear and the sponge of man, he bore the spit of man.

The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.

*Want to read more by Max? Here's a great article entitled - The Passion, The Pain and The Promise. Print it off and read it this week....HAPPY EASTER!!