DEVOTIONAL SERIES ON LOVE (part-43)

WHAT “GETS IN THE WAY” OF YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS, AND FOR GOD?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
(John 13:34)

MEDITATION:
Love means sacrificing for others with no expectations of anything in return.
Sometimes there are folks who do things for others, who then wait to see what
they will do for them in return. That’s bartering, rather than an expression of
love.

The following is by no means an exhaustive list, but the following
scriptures give us some important considerations regarding love.

Love means we want to spend time each day reading God’s Word.
    I have hidden Your word in my
    heart that I might not sin against You.
    (Psalm 119:11)

Love means we look forward to spending
time with other members of our family of God.
    And let us consider how we may spur one another on
    toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting
    together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
    encouraging one another—and all the more as
    you see the Day approaching.
    (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Love means we avoid gossiping about others because
we know it displeases the Lord, and it hurts others.
    A gossip betrays a confidence,
    but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.
    (Proverbs 11:13)

Love means we look for opportunities
to encourage and build up other believers.
    Therefore encourage one another and
    build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
    (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Love means others can see that we are followers
of the Lord by what they see us do and hear us say.
    “By this everyone will know that you
      are My disciples, if you love one another.”
      (John 13:35)

Love means that we are seekers of peace. Because we want to see peace,
we will practice self-control and manage our irritations and anger.
    Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full
    restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind,
    live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
    (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Love means we find ways to serve the Lord;
we want to be a part of His earthly ministry.
    You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be
    free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the
    flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
    (Galatians 5:13)

Love means we will be humble and not arrogant. We will be gentle when
dealing with others and will practice patience. Patience means we develop
an ability to tolerate others, rather than rising up in anger when others
have different opinions than ours. Patience can be a struggle for “fix it”
type people, but with God’s help we can all cultivate patience.
    Be completely humble and gentle; be
    patient, bearing with one another in love.
    (Ephesians 4:2)

Love means we know how to be thankful to others for their graciousness,
and to God for His blessings. Learning to be thankful is an indication that
our capacity for love is growing. When our love is growing, it helps to feed
the growth of our faith.
    We ought always to thank God for you, brothers
    and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is
    growing more and more, and the love all of you
    have for one another is increasing.
    (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

Love means we have a strong desire for obeying God’s commands.
It also means our concern for others is sincere to the point of our
willingness to sacrifice time and convenience to help them when
they are in need (or just to let them know we care about them and
value our relationship with them).
    Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying
    the truth so that you have sincere love for each other,
    love one another deeply, from the heart.
    (1 Peter 1:22)

Love means we think like other believers. Why? Because we are
developing a mindset similar to the mindset of Jesus we have
learned about through scripture.
    Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic,
    love one another, be compassionate and humble.
    (1 Peter 3:8)

Love means our belief in the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, is real and sincere.
    And this is His command: to believe in the name
    of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another
    as He commanded us.
    (1 John 3:23)

Love means we obey God’s command to love one another. It
means we can love more sincerely than the world’s definition
of love.
    Dear friends, since God so loved us,
    we also ought to love one another.
    (1 John 4:11)

Love means God is living in us; and we know
He is, because we have a love for other people.
    No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another,
    God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
    (1 John 4:12)

Love means Jesus knows us by our actions.
    My sheep listen to My voice;
    I know them, and they follow Me.
    (John 10:27)

Love means we will freely attend to the needs
of other believers with no expectations from them.
    Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you
    love Me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, You know
    that I love You.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
    (John 21:16)

Love means there are times when we consider
the needs of others ahead of our own needs.
    Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
    Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
    not looking to your own interests but each of you
    to the interests of the others.
    (Philippians 2:3-4)

    “For, whoever would love life and see good days
      must keep their tongue from evil and their lips
      from deceitful speech.”
      (1 Peter 3:10)

When we love, we have a natural desire to share our lives with one another,
and we can experience an emotional involvement with daily situations. This
gives us a powerful means of connecting with others, but it can also leave us
vulnerable to the sin of gossip. We may be tempted to gossip in our effort to
make ourselves look or feel better, but it ends up doing just the opposite
because others will begin to categorize us as ‘gossipers’.

As the verse above tells us, if we expect to enjoy life (a life centered on Christ),
we need to control our tongues. When love replaces self-centeredness, we
find that thoughts of evil, deceitfulness, vindictiveness, hatefulness, and
gossip are no longer our natural tendency. Instead, we have a tenderness
and a new natural desire to love others, and to love God.

The scriptures have taught us that ‘love’ is an action word. We can’t express
love by doing and/or saying nothing. We’re encouraged to allow God’s love to
flow freely through us. God may want to speak to someone through us; we may
never know how He might use us to lift the spirits of someone else.

ACTION:
What does your love meter look like? Does it lean toward
the worldly definition, or is more like the love of Christ?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me with a love
that doesn’t change based on my actions. You have shown
me a “new love” that is far from the world’s idea of love,
and it is shown in Your Son, Jesus Christ, as well. Show
me how to have that kind of love for You, and for others.
Too often I allow circumstances and the actions of others
to cause me to withhold my love. You don’t withhold Your
love from me, so help me to change my ideas and thoughts
about love; mold me into having a love more like Yours.
Teach me to look for opportunities to express love for others.
I pray that I will no longer allow my selfishness, busyness,
self-centeredness, anger, deceitfulness, hurt feelings, or
anything else to ‘get in the way’ of showing love for others,
and love for You. Thank You, Jesus, for Your ultimate
expression of love, when You voluntarily went to the cross
for me, and everyone else (including those who mock and
hate You). Father, teach me to love like You do.”

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