Ready:
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” —Jean 15:12
Set:
Have you ever been on a team where it feels like a battle to love your teammates? Or have you ever competed against teams or players who seem impossible to love? Let’s be honest; we, too, can be hard to love at times. But as followers of Jesus, we know that God loves us even when we do not deserve it. As we seek to become more like Jesus, we are called to love others as He has loved us.
God’s love is powerful and transforms us from the inside out. His love is greater than any love that we have seen or experienced before. The Apostle John tells us in John 3:16, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
God loves us with a sacrificial love. God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and take on the punishment of death that we deserved for our sins, and then raised Him from the dead, conquering death and giving us the opportunity to be in relationship with God.
God’s love for us is unconditional. While we were still dead in our sins, God loved us (Ephesians 2:4-5). When we did not deserve God’s love, He poured His love out on us.
The Holy Spirit ultimately empowers us to love like Jesus and to become more like Him. We love others out of the overflow of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and we want others to experience the amazing love that Jesus has shown us.
When it feels like an uphill battle to love those God has placed in our path, remember how Jesus has loved you. Remember the calling on your life to become more like Jesus, and the gift that you have with the Holy Spirit to love others as Jesus has loved you. Loving others may seem challenging, but when it comes from the overflow of your walk with Jesus, it is not only possible, but life changing.
Go:
How have you been loving others as Jesus has loved you?
How can you show God’s love to your teammates?
Commit to showing God’s love to those around you this week by choosing to love others in challenging moments.
Workout:
Overtime:
“Lord, thank You for loving me with an unconditional and everlasting love. Thank You that it was because of love that You sent Jesus to earth to die for my sins and bring me into Your Kingdom. I want to love others like You love me; transform my heart so it looks like Yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.”