The last part of our series is about love. I’ll be talking about the importance of love as a prerequisite for Wednesday and Friday’s post explaining what love is. My grandmother was one of the most loving people I’ve ever known. Regardless of who you are or where you came from, she loved you as if you were family. People in the church who weren’t biologically related to our family called her Grandma for that reason. It’s always amazed and inspired me how willing she was to just show love to everyone. I aspire to be like her; someone who people look at and say, “She’s just so loving.” The Bible is full of love. Jesus loves us unconditionally. Not only that, but He calls us to love others with that same unconditionality. Not just our friends. Not just our family. Not just the people who are nice to us. Not just the people we like. Everyone. Even—no, especially—our enemies. Since that’s a lot easier said than done, here are five scriptures to help you achieve that level of lovingness.
Proverbs 3:3-4 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. We’re supposed to carry love around with us always. We’re supposed to keep them in our hearts constantly. We do that, and we earn the favor of both God and man. In my opinion, loving my enemies is a very small price to pay for the favor of God. 1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us. God loved us. While we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). He loved us so much that He came to this world to die a sinner’s death, even though He was a perfect, innocent Man. The least we could do is show that same love to others. 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Of all the commands in the Bible, loving each other is the one that’s above all the rest. It covers a multitude of sins. It’s that powerful. Love drives people to do crazy things. Don’t just love on the surface level. Love deeply. Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Love is honor. We’re called to honor others above ourselves. To love others above ourselves. It’s what Jesus did. It’s what He does. And it’s what He instructs us to do. Mark 12:29-31 The first commandment is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. The two greatest commandments in the whole Bible are about love. That should say a lot to you. It says a lot to me. Clearly, love is extremely important. Because of all the commands in the Bible, the ones about love are the greatest. We’re called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love your neighbor above yourself. Love is a word that gets thrown around a lot. But it shouldn’t. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I do not use the phrase “I love you” lightly. If I tell someone that I love them, I mean it with everything in me. Other than family members, I can count the number of people I’ve said those three words to on one hand. It’s just not something I feel should be thrown around. The Bible makes it clear that love is sacred. It’s valuable, and it should be treated as such. I know that showing unconditional love to people is no small feat. But it’s what Jesus did without thinking twice about it. And it’s what we were put on this earth to do. Join me Wednesday and Friday to dive into 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in order to really understand what love actually is.
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John 15:13 'No greater love has man than this: than to lay down his life for his friends.'
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MissionIn short, I started this blog because I want to give girls all over the world hope. All of the topics I write about on this blog are things that I have struggled with or am still struggling with. I want to help young women everywhere achieve freedom through Christ. Archives
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