Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.
I I always tell people I understood more about the love of God after my first-born child. It was the first time I got a sense of caring for someone and loving someone who could not help themselves. It showed me more about how God loves us. He is our heavenly father. He created us, and no matter what we do, He’s always there and wants us to come back to Him. It is truly an unconditional love.
Have you ever read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and thought how opposite those verses are from what the world looks like? Verse 4 says, “love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude.” How rare is it today for someone to show patience and kindness to someone they do not know? It is easy to show kindness to people that we know, but it is different if we do not know them or disagree with them. Love does not boast.
Today, boasting and arrogance are the norm. Humility is rare. Especially humility that puts others first. In verse six, it says love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. As I have gotten older, it has shocked me to see how much people do not rejoice in the truth. They rejoice in themselves and lie continuously to keep a certain image they want others to perceive. When we have love in our hearts in the way Paul describes, it makes us stand out from this world. Caring, being kind, helping people who cannot help us or give us anything, that is the way Jesus intended, and that’s the type of love he has for us, and that’s what we should be showing to others. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit, love should show up in our lives. It should not be foreign to us. It should be a part of us and a part of our daily lives, and how we interact with others.
Prayer: God, help me to love others as You have loved me.
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.
Reflection:
Use the S.O.A.P. Method to study God’s Word.
- SCRIPTURE: What stands out to you in today’s passage?
- OBSERVATION: What is this text saying? What is the context? How does it fit with the verses before and after it? Are there any commands, instructions, or promises?
- APPLICATION: How can you apply this verse to your life? What does this mean today? What is God saying to you?
- PRAYER: Respond to the passage in prayer. Ask God to help you apply this truth to your life and spend some time listening to what He may be telling you.