Loving Others

This month we are talking all about true love, something we all long for! In week one, we were taught about God’s love for us which is the only true love there is. Praise God for His perfect and everlasting love for each and every one of us! Then, in week two, we were taught what love for God is. Love for God is keeping His commands. We were reminded that when Jesus is living in us as our personal Lord and Savior, it is not burdensome for us to keep God’s commands for through Jesus we have overcome sin and the world! (1 John 5:3-4) Jesus overcame sin and death for us! We can be confident knowing that God loves us perfectly as we are! God loves us so perfectly that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins to redeem us from our sin and death. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior we become children of God and Jesus lives in us! (John 1:12) What an incredible blessing it is to be a child of the one true living God of all creation! We don’t deserve this incredible blessing, or any of the perfect blessings that God constantly blesses us with, but our God is full of mercy and grace and He always blesses us perfectly even though we never deserve it! Praise God for this gift! Praise God for His eternal gift of Salvation that is only found in Jesus!

This week we are going to learn about loving those around us. We are all imperfect, we all have a sinful nature and we all sin. Praise God for our Redeemer Jesus! Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV) It is by God’s grace that we are saved. We don’t deserve salvation, our sin separates us from God and our sin leads to death. But in God’s grace, He blessed us with the free gift of Salvation in His Son Jesus even though we don’t deserve it. Romans 3:23-24 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV) And Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV) Praise God for His never ending love and His relentless grace!

As we have seen in Romans and in Ephesians, we are all imperfect and we all need Jesus! When we look at others we must see them as we should. For through God’s grace we have been blessed with eternal life in Jesus and we are now children of God! Let us see others through the eyes of a child of God for that is what we are! We are not perfect and God blessed us with His grace, now that we are His, let’s rejoice in our Savior and approach others with mercy and grace as well! In Jesus we have been blessed with every blessing there is! For when we have Jesus living in us, we have everything that we need for all of eternity! We must approach others with love and kindness just as our Savior Jesus did with us. Titus 3:4-5 tells us “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (NIV) In God’s kindness and love for us, He has blessed us with His mercy and His grace and He has blessed us with eternal life in Jesus! We are perfectly blessed in our Savior! As 1 John 4:11 says “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NIV) Let us love others for we have the love of Christ in us! Let us share the love of God with others for we have an eternal supply of God’s love in Jesus! We can certainly share it with those around us and we are called to do so! John 13:34 says “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (NIV)

God loves us perfectly and He loves us so deeply that His love spreads from within us to all those around us! God loves others through us! All of the good in us is Christ in us! When we love others we are doing something that God has instructed us to do, therefore, we can feel encouraged knowing that we are doing something that God instructs us to do and we are glorifying Him. This way we do not have the guilt of not keeping God’s command to love one another. Now remember, no one is perfect and that includes you and I. So if you are having a hard time loving someone in your life don’t get discouraged. We are still sinners but praise God for our Savior Jesus, for in Him we are forgiven for all of our past, present and future sins! If we are struggling to love those around us we must humbly come before the Lord and ask Him to help us with this. 1 Peter 5:5-6 tells us “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (NIV) When we struggle with anything in life we must humbly come before the Lord and ask Him to help us with it. Pray to God and ask Him to search you and try you and rid you of any offensive way. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to forgive you, then remember that you are forgiven. Ask God to teach you the way you should go, ask Him to make you faithful in living to glorify Him in every way and always doing His will. Believe that you have what you have asked for in prayer! When we pray according to God’s will we do have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15) And remember, God is in control of all things and He knows exactly what you need even when you do not, and He will bless you with exactly that in each moment. Also remember that struggles are a blessing! 1 Peter 5:16 says “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (NIV) Do not fret and do not get discouraged! God will bless you with what you need and He will continue to mold you into the child of God that He has created you to be. 1 Peter 5:19 tells us “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good for we are eternally blessed in Jesus!

We have been taught by God to love one another! (1 Thessalonians 4:9) We have everything we need to do so in our Savior Jesus! Now that we have Jesus living in us, as children of God, we must love one another deeply and sincerely from the heart! (1 Peter 1:22) Remember it is God living in us who makes us live a life that glorifies Him and it is God who makes us do His will. (Philippians 2:13) God will always love others through us for God is love! (1 John 4:8) Let us be faithful in our efforts to love others for we have been blessed with the never ending love of God! Because we have been blessed with the perfect and never ending love of God we are filled with an inexpressible joy that encourages us to share the love of God with others! Let us always remember that no one is perfect, including us, and therefore we must forgive one another just as God forgave us! Colossians 3:12-13 instructs us “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV) Now, let us go forth rejoicing and loving those around us! For we are perfectly and eternally loved by our Creator, we have Jesus our Savior living in us making us to be faithful in keeping God’s commands, and we have everything we need in Jesus to live a life that glorifies our God! We are perfectly blessed by God in our Savior Jesus! Let us not become discouraged in our efforts to love one another! For our God is rich in mercy and grace and richly blesses us with both even though we don’t deserve either! Walk humbly with your God praising Him for every perfect blessing! Remember, God is faithful even when we are not and He will always bless you with what you need and He will make you to be faithful in Him! Praise God for His never ending love and His relentless grace!