Day Twenty
Loving Others
"So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself."' And He (Jesus) said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
Luke 10:27-28, NKJV
Read Here
How do we love ourselves? We give ourselves food, and sleep. We seek joy and love from others. We long for comfort and peace of mind. The Bible tells us that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. By loving them we show our love for God.
God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. Since we have received such amazing love, how much more should we love our fellow man -- and be a reflection of God's love to them.
But our neighbor is not defined here as only a person that is easy to love. Our neighbor may even be our enemy. Jesus commanded us even to love those who are unlovable. "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
Other translations say, "pray for those who persecute you." This is where our faith is truly tested. Our faith is not complete without an understanding of this concept.
You may have been viciously scarred by hurtful events in the past. You may still be reeling from the wrong that has been done to you. Do not try to merely bandage those wounds with a quick prayer of insincere love and forgiveness. Use prayer to ask God how to love those who have hurt you.
As you pray, listen for His wisdom on the matter. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into forgiveness. Sometimes we must have God's help in letting go of our emotional pain. If you feel like it is impossible to love someone who has hurt you, ask God to give you the grace to forgive.
The act of forgiving and loving others can be a catalyst for true revival to happen in your life.
Action Point
List the names of people in your life that are difficult to love. Consider their lives and their need for a Savior. Consider your own life, and how the Lord loves and forgives you despite your sin and your failures. Then pray for them. Return to this lesson as many times as necessary to work through this discipline.
Ask others for help. But do not skip over day twenty. Do not merely listen to the Word -- do what it says. "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22-25).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I confess that sometimes it is difficult to love people. Sometimes it's even difficult to love the people in my own family. It is especially difficult to love those that do evil, and those who have wounded my family and me. I need your grace to love and to forgive those unlovable people.
Forgive me for the times when I was difficult to love. Help me to remember that I have been forgiven a debt that I could never pay. Help me to forgive those who owe me such a small debt in comparison. And may I be a reflection of your love, your grace, and your compassion to a lost and dying world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Loving Others
"So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself."' And He (Jesus) said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
Luke 10:27-28, NKJV
Read Here
How do we love ourselves? We give ourselves food, and sleep. We seek joy and love from others. We long for comfort and peace of mind. The Bible tells us that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. By loving them we show our love for God.
God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. Since we have received such amazing love, how much more should we love our fellow man -- and be a reflection of God's love to them.
But our neighbor is not defined here as only a person that is easy to love. Our neighbor may even be our enemy. Jesus commanded us even to love those who are unlovable. "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
Other translations say, "pray for those who persecute you." This is where our faith is truly tested. Our faith is not complete without an understanding of this concept.
You may have been viciously scarred by hurtful events in the past. You may still be reeling from the wrong that has been done to you. Do not try to merely bandage those wounds with a quick prayer of insincere love and forgiveness. Use prayer to ask God how to love those who have hurt you.
As you pray, listen for His wisdom on the matter. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into forgiveness. Sometimes we must have God's help in letting go of our emotional pain. If you feel like it is impossible to love someone who has hurt you, ask God to give you the grace to forgive.
The act of forgiving and loving others can be a catalyst for true revival to happen in your life.
Action Point
List the names of people in your life that are difficult to love. Consider their lives and their need for a Savior. Consider your own life, and how the Lord loves and forgives you despite your sin and your failures. Then pray for them. Return to this lesson as many times as necessary to work through this discipline.
Ask others for help. But do not skip over day twenty. Do not merely listen to the Word -- do what it says. "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22-25).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I confess that sometimes it is difficult to love people. Sometimes it's even difficult to love the people in my own family. It is especially difficult to love those that do evil, and those who have wounded my family and me. I need your grace to love and to forgive those unlovable people.
Forgive me for the times when I was difficult to love. Help me to remember that I have been forgiven a debt that I could never pay. Help me to forgive those who owe me such a small debt in comparison. And may I be a reflection of your love, your grace, and your compassion to a lost and dying world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.