Day 359: Be Like John

John 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John 3: 11

 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Many of us know who John the Baptist is, we know of Him and we know the work He did before Jesus. John was the one to come before the Messiah to prepare the way for when He got there. John preached a message of repentance, he came baptizing the people who repented of their sins. One thing that John made sure that everyone knew was, he was not the Messiah. In fact the Messiah is much greater than him. He is only preparing the way for when the Messiah comes. John came to start something that Jesus would come to finish. 

What I'm getting at here is, John was not Jesus, and he made sure that everyone knew that. John did not try to be Jesus, instead he did what he was sent to do, the same way Jesus did. I here many of us talk about how we are not perfect, and how we are not Jesus. First of all we are not called to be Jesus we are called to be like Him. We are called to mock the perfect man and get as close to perfection as possible. If we were all called to be the Messiah then God would never have sent His son to die on a cross for us because we could have saved ourselves. Instead we were sent a savior because we were and constantly are in desperate need of a savior. We ourselves are not the savior. With that being said, we may not be Jesus but we can be John. 

We can prepare the way for when Jesus comes. We can live a life dedicated to Him, leading His people to Him everyday. While we are on Earth I believe that we can take an example from John as well. We are not the Messiah but we are as close to the Messiah that people will see before Jesus actually makes His return. This does not mean that we are physically baptizing people everywhere we go, although some of us may end up doing that. What that means is being a Christ example. Being a person that follows Christ, ad lives off of His every word. We can be the people that preach a message of repentance, and grace, and love letting people know that their is something greater to life. Their is something bigger than ourselves, and understanding that even at our greatest moments Jesus is greater and He will do more than we can ever do. But in the meantime, while we are waiting for His return, let's prepare the way for the Messiah when He returns in the same way John did. 

Reflection

1. What life lessons can we learn from John the Baptist?

2. Are you living a life that points to Christ?

3. If you were the only bible that anyone ever read, or the closest thing to Jesus anyone ever sees, what would people see?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we talked about today. Whatever is on your heart today, pray about it. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 360!

Day 337: When the Heart Goes Bad!

John 14:17

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today let’s talk about the heart, and the condition of it. Sometimes our heart can go bad. Not in a sense that sin has completely taken us over, which is one way a heart can go bad but in a sense that sometimes it’s too broken. What I mean by that is, we go on day by day without ever really addressing what is going on within us until it is too late. Our hearts become so broken and battered that we begin to think that there is no way out. Many of us know what a broken heart feels like, and sometimes that can seem to carry on for a very long time, the heart takes time to heal. It sometimes seems like the pain just keeps coming. We all want our hearts to remain healthy and fresh and we even get to the points when we try to convince ourselves that we are okay when we’re not. The truth about life is, sometimes it hurts, and that means our hearts will be broken. But the truth about Christ is He can put the pieces back together and make it stronger than it has ever been.

For those of you who have had your heart broken, you know what can come from it. There is so much pain that takes root, anger starts to arise, then bitterness, and unforgiveness, then hate. When our hearts are ruined because we cannot seem to get past the pain we throw ourselves into a deep and dark world of hurt. I know these things are hard to get over, I know it hurts, but somewhere we have to find hope that we will be okay again. That hope that I’m speaking about is only found in Christ. Christ is the light and the only way out of this deep, dark, painful tunnel. We cannot dwell in our pain it will get us nowhere. Facing the source of our pain is going to hurt in the moment but it’s part of the process of healing. We are in need of some healing to take place. We are all or have all been walking around with our heart’s light going more dim as we go.

I want to talk about how some of us are walking around with a rotten heart and it’s not completely our fault. Sometimes we put our hearts on the line and they get ripped to shreds and we continue to put our hearts on the line for others and continue to get hurt. Some of us are suffering from bitterness and guilt that is eating away at us. Some of us are holding grudges and harboring unforgiveness. Some of us can’t seem to let go of the things ruining us. Some of us are letting fear run wild in our hearts. I name all of these things because we are walking around everyday not dealing with what is really going on in our hearts. We can see everything in everyone else but we tend to overlook it in ourselves.

We live in a time where mental health has become more widely spoken about. But we also live in a generation that is told by older generations that we are too soft. We’re too emotional Therefore we hide our feelings we cover them up because we do not want to come off as week. Let me tell you right now, if no one else wants to deal with your broken heart, God will. If no one else wants to talk you off a ledge God will. There are too many people in our generation that are suffering because their heart has gone bad. Too many people are walking around like zombies because they do not have it in them to love anymore because they have been hurt so much. We are walking around with fake smiles trying to be okay because society says we have to be.  This is not the life God wants us to live. Yes we will go through seasons of pain, yes our hearts will be broken but God is a healer. It is not His will for us to harbor that pain or let it manifest in us. There is peace with the Father, there is healing with the Father. We get to a point where we begin to project our feelings onto God. We forget that the one who created the heart is the only one who can completely heal it.

All this to say, we have to check in with our hearts and be honest about what is really going on within us. There so much pain in each and every one of us, but trust God with your heart. He will protect it and guard it. God gave us feelings for a reason, he gave us emotions for a reason. He gave us tears for a reason. Do not allow your feelings and pain to be suppressed because of what someone else thinks. God cares for them. He sees every tear, He hears every prayer. Look for hope in Him.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Pour your heart out to God tonight, if any of this resonated with you talk to God about it and allow Him to heal your heart. God is a healer, he wants to give you peace, let Him do it.

I love you so much! I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 338!

Day 336: Recap!

Day 330: We Have an Advocate

Today we talked about how Jesus is an advocate for us and how he is constantly rooting for us. We also discussed how we should be and need to be advocates for one another, praying for one another and lifting each other up. We focused on 1 John 2:1-2.

"...sometimes we have to plead someone else’s case. Sometimes we have to sit ourselves aside and go to God on behalf of someone else."

Day 331: The Truth About Loving God

Today we talked about how we really know we love God. We asked ourselves question about what loving God looks like and how we can make sure we are doing it. We talked about what a life loving God looks like. We focused on 1 John 2:3-6.

" Loving God is less about abstaining from sin and more about obeying His word, there is a difference."

Day 332: Loving This World

Today we continued with the theme of love and talked about choosing to love the world or God, but we cannot do both. We talked about how the world offers us something temporary and fleeting but God gives us eternity. We focused one 1 John 2:15-17.

"There is only so much the world can do for us. But when we choose to love God, we are choosing eternity, we are choosing everything by making one choice to choose God."

Day 333: Walking Away Isn't Easy

Today we talked about how if we really love something or someone it is very hard to walk away. We then went on to propose the question, if we walk away from God, whom we say we love, did we really ever love Him at all? We focused on 1 John 2:19.

"When we come to the understanding of who God is and everything He has done for us in our lives we will want to stay near Him for all eternity. Walking away is not an option because we come to the conclusion that walking away from God means walking away from life and that is not something we are willing to give up."

Day 334: We Are Because He Is

Today we talked about how different life would be without God, if it would be life at all. We talked about how everything we are not only depends on Him but it is because of Him. We talked about how we tend to look over or forget the little things, not acknowledge that God is responsible for even those things. We focused on John 3:16 and Revelation 22:13.

"We must remember where we come from, we come from God, our identity, our life, our very existence is a result of a loving heavenly father. We are because He is."

Day 335: This is True Love

Today we talked some more about love. We talked about how God teaches us what true love is by loving us first. We talked about how His love is so unconditional and so great that we will never be able to fully grasp the capacity of it. We also talked about how God has taught us to love other people the way He loves us. We are called to love. 

"Love can change people. Love can pierce evil. Love can heal or soften a broken and hardened heart. We need love, love is what keeps us going everyday. Love is our foundation. Life is so much better when we love...Love makes the world a better place."

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 337!

Day 317: Knowing God For Ourselves

John 14:6

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

How many times have we used someone else’s faith as a crutch so that we would not have to submit our lives fully to God? What I’m asking is have we ever felt like our faith or our salvation was dependent on someone else? We have pastors, parents, and leaders who will lead us to Christ, but the only way to eternity it through Christ. We must have a personal relationship with God for ourselves. People can lead us to the water but they cannot make us drink. We can be led to Christ all our lives but if we do not make the decision to follow Him ourselves we will remain wight where we are.

The only way to God is through Jesus, the only way to eternity is through Jesus. No one else can

get us there. No one else can make the decision for us.  Many of us grew up in church or going to church, and many of us did not. For those of us who grew up in church or around church or having a common knowledge of the Christian faith, we had to at one point come to the conclusion that knowing about God and knowing God are two completely different things. We must gain a relationship with God for ourselves and that’s something no one else can for us. Our parents can drag us to church all of our lives but we have to make that decision ourselves. We have to come to know God for who He is, we must profess our own faith. We must repent for our own sins. Our parents, our mentors, our pastors, no one can do that for us.

How many times have we depended on the faith of others to get us by? We’ve depended on the prayers of others, and thought just because we go to church that we are okay. We are good because we grew up in the church and we know about God, We know about the bible. We got baptised when we were younger, we take communion and our parents dedicated us. We go to church every sunday, and we listen to a good sermon that will hold us over until next sunday so, we’re good right? No we are not we must come to know God for ourselves, our parents introduce us to our faith, but we make the decision to follow Christ. We make the decision to choose Christ every day of our lives. We make the decision to spend time with God in His word, growing in our faith, learning and knowing more about Him. These are our decisions, if God doesn’t make that decision for us, why do we put it on others to do it for us. Many of us are thriving because someone is praying for us, someone is going to God on our behalf, many say it’s the prayers of our grandmothers, but I know that it’s Jesus standing at the right hand of God interceding for us day in and day out.

What I’m getting at here is, no one can have a relationship with God for us. No one can submit our lives to Christ for us. No one can get on our knees and confess our sins to God and repent. No one can accept Christ into our lives but us. My mom would always tell me, “I can’t stand before God on the day of judgement for you, you stand before Him alone.” That struck me so hard because when I’m standing before God He’s not going to ask about how many times I went to church with my mom or how I had a relationship with Him through someone else. No He wants us all to have a personal relationship with Him. He is concerned with our hearts and how we served Him. We must do it ourselves. We have the power to walk away from a life of sin and dwell with Christ for all of our days.

All this to say, the only way to God is through Christ, not our parents, mentors, pastors, etc. If we really want to know what it is to truly live, we must get to know God for ourselves. We must have a personal relationship with God.

Response/Prayer Time

1. Are you depending on someone else to have a relationship with God for you?
2. Do you think that going to church and listening to a sermon is enough to have a relationship with God?
3. Respond in whatever way you feel led. Take the time to think about what we discussed today and talk to God about.

If you’ve never made the decision to follow Christ and you want to, or if you want to rededicate your life to Him, now is the time to do. Now is the time to make that decision. If you want to be brought into this magnificent promise of eternity, now is the time to make that decision. If that’s you if you want to make that decision, pray this prayer with me,

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. I pray that you shine your  light on me and bring me out of the darkness and into your light. I love you Lord. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations! Do not hesitate to reach and get plugged into  a church. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 318!

Day 308: Recap! (Kinda)

We're doing the recap a bit differently today. Take the time to go back over what we discussed this week. Whatever spoke to you the most or whatever you feel led to, take the time to reflect. As we reflect today I want to bring your attention to Day 305 when we talked about trusting in the power of prayer and praying in faith. Tonight America needs of prayer, Texas needs our prayers. As another mass shooting has taken place just a month after the last mass shooting. Both together have claimed the lives of hundreds of people. Today a gunman walked into a church and opened fire killing 26 people. So tonight we pray, tonight we lift up those people and we pray for the families. We pray for healing for those hurt and affected. We pray for peace in our world and we pray that even through the evil in the world we will always see the goodness of God. In the midst of all the hate we will love. We love you Texas and Vegas, and you are in our prayers.

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 309!

Day 305: Trust In the Power of Prayer

James 5:13-18

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

I think sometimes we underestimate the power of prayer, or we doubt while praying. Why do we turn to prayer as a last resort, and why do we still worry or why do we doubt if we pray. When we pray we are having faith that God will answer us, that He hears us and that He is going to answer our prayer. Sometimes we allow what we see to make us doubt what God can do.

I love that the answer to all the questions in the above scripture is prayer. Whatever is going on in our lives we should pray. If we’re sick, upset, happy, in and out of season we should constantly be in prayer, Sometimes we allow our situation to dictate our prayers lives. I think all of us have been there. When we are in trouble, when things are falling apart we are in constant prayer. But when things are going good for us, when life is treating us right, why is our prayer lives reduced to close to nothing? Our situation changes the way we pray and what we pray for but it should not affect our prayer life at all. The truth is it’s sometimes easier to pray when things in our lives are out of control because we need God to fix them. We need God to deliver us and bring us out of the hard times. But what about the good times. When things are going good, praise God. There’s nothing like taking the time to thank and praise God for what He has done, for who He is and how He has moved in our lives.

Many times we feel ourselves praying to God for the same things over and over again, as if we want to make sure that He hears us, or has heard us. There’s nothing wrong with constantly praying for something, but at what point is that constant prayer bred from doubt. What I mean is, when we pray do we really believe that God can do it. Are we praying just to pray or are we praying in faith? Some things takes a lot of prayer, and sometimes we are doubting God. There is no use of us praying if we are going to doubt and worry anyway. This is something God has taught me, don’t pray and worry, don’t pray and doubt. It defeats the purpose of prayer. We must pray in faith and trust in the power of prayer, and that means trusting that God hears us and He is going to answer us. This does not mean that we will always get the answer we want. It means that we are trusting God and His plans.

When talking about Elijah Peter says before anything, “Elijah was as human as we are…” I think that is meant to encourage us, yes we are human, so was Jesus, and Paul, and John, and Peter, and Timothy, and all the Apostles, but when they prayed God moved. That is because they prayed in faith knowing that it was not by human hands or human power but it was through the divine power of God that these things were done. Yes, we are mere humans but we serve an almighty God who can do anything! The scripture goes on to talk about how Elijah prayed that it would not rain, and it didn’t rain for three and half years, exclamation point! Then when he prayed for rain it rained! This is the power of prayer, something that seems so simple yet so hard for many people is one of our most powerful weapons. Prayer changes things, God moves when His people earnestly pray to Him, having faith that He will answer. Elijah did not talk about how it should stop raining or how it needs to rain again, no He went straight to God in prayer and asked. That’s what we as the body of Christ must learn to do, we must learn to talk less, pray more, and watch what God does.

All this to say, do not doubt the power of prayer and what God can do. Do not pray and worry but trust in Him.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led, and pray. Pray about whatever is on your heart, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you, and just pray.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 306!

Day 302: Jesus Doesn't Care About Status

James 2:1-9

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

THe scripture above is pretty self explanatory, but it shows the difference between how we as humans think and how God thinks. It shows how we as humans see people versus how God sees His children. The goal is to see people the way God sees them, to see them through a filter of love as opposed to judging them with our eyes. How many times have we judged someone based on their appearance or statue? How many times have we treated someone different because they looked different than us, or came from a different background? Let’s be honest, I am guilty of it, and when I think about I think of how wrong that was. God does not show partiality, He treats us all the same. He loves us all the same, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, it doesn’t matter where you came from, what color your skin is, you are still a child of God. He does not care about our status. Do you think Jesus was thinking about status when He died for us, He died for all of us. HE died for every human being so that we all may have life. He didn’t come for just you or just me, He came for all of us. Every single one of us, that means we are all equal in His eyes, He did not care about our status or our background, He cares about us, His people.

I know many of us have judged people but also many of us have been judged by people and I can tell you it doesn’t feel good to be treated differently because you're not rich enough, you didn’t come from the right neighborhood or your skin isn’t the right color. God made us all equal and He doesn’t love us because of what we have, where we come from, or the color of our skin, He loves us because we are His children, He loves us because He is God and God is love. God’s love is unconditional, and that is how we must learn to love people.

The bible tells us time and time again to love our neighbor as ourselves, but if we are showing partiality, how are we loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we are passing judgements on people based on how they look how are we loving our neighbors like ourselves? We cannot dishonor God’s people and say that we love them at the same time. We do not get to decide if someone is worthy of our love, if we are walking this earth like Christ, everyone is worthy of our love. Everyone deserves to be loved. Loving people is not about us, it is about the other person, people need to know that they are loved. They need to know that beyond their looks, beyond their condition or situation, beyond their past, they are loved. Sometimes we make love selfish, love is the most selfless action their is. Can you imagine how that poor man must have felt when He was treated less important because he wasn’t wearing gold or nice garments? The honest truth is we have been all three people in the story. People make assumptions of who we are based on what they see and we have done the same thing. Let’s stop things cycle and start to walk, live, and love like Christ. When we are full of the Holy Spirit there is no room for anything that is unlike Christ.  

All this to say, if God is not judging anyone, what gives us the right to judge people. Show no partiality.

Reflection

1. Recall a time when you have been the person who was judgemental or the person being judged.
2. Looking back how do you feel about that?

Prayer Time

Take the time to ask God to search your heart and remove anything that is unlike Him. If you feel the need to repent by all means do so. Then take the time to pray for God’s people, pray that we will be a people that loves beyond what the eyes can see, that we will not judge people but love them.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 303!

Day 293: But Wait...There's More!

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Malachi 3:20

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Recently I had a realization, that no matter how big I dream, no matter how grand my plan is for myself and my life, God will always top that. It’s mindblowing to think about. Most people who know me know that I’m a dreamer, and I dream big, not only that but somehow someway all of my dreams are going to come to pass. It’s crazy when I sit and think of all the things I want out of life, and I’m reaching for the stars, I get a revelation that even in those moments God is bigger. Meaning He has a bigger vision, and a grander plan. That makes me trust Him even more. It pushes me to lean into His will a little more. God can do far beyond what we can ever think, or ask. That’s just a testament of how great God is compared to us, He expand our dreams, expands our faith, and expands our expectations. Simply because He is that good. I mean we’re talking about the guy who created the entire universe and everything in it.

When God blesses us, He really blesses us. It’s like a proud parent showering their child with gifts. God will go above and beyond for us, because He loves us that much. Sometimes we are waiting for God to move in our lives, waiting on promises, and when they do come to pass God makes the wait so worth. It’s a beautiful thing when we expect things from God. When we are waiting for Him to move miraculously in our lives, because He goes beyond our expectations. Over the summer I was really struggling with how we were going to pay tuition this year. I have struggling with this my entire time in school, and this times it seemed close to impossible. My family was going through so much financially, I couldn’t find a job, no one was willing to give me a loan and no one was willing to cosign. I found one person to co-sign and it got denied. Everything got denied. So I just kept praying and kept trusting God. I did not know how it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen. But here’s the thing, I was expecting God to provide a loan approval, or enough money to start the payments. I called financial aid to see what they could do and they all told me there was nothing they could do. So I prayed some more and emailed the president of the school. Three days later I got an email saying, they would increase one of my grants. But wait...there’s more, they gave me a scholarship that would cover the rest of my tuition for not one but both semesters! I started screaming and broke out into tears, I was not expecting that but God went beyond my expectations and did something I did not even think of. Then I got offered not one but two jobs. I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself financially, but I have four on-campus jobs. But wait...there’s more, I didn’t think I would get a refund check, but I went to the financial aid office and they had one there waiting for me, so now I don’t have to worry financially. God just keeps on blessing me, and it’s beyond whatever I could think or imagine.

-Dyamond

I think many times  it depends on our faithfulness, God will bless those who are faithful. He is looking at the ones who are constantly faithful to Him, and obeying Him. God sees that and He rewards the ones whose hearts stay with Him. This is not to say that we should only serve God for a blessing, but that faithfulness definitely pays off. Yes it pays off in eternity but it also pays off while we’re still on earth. We all have something that we want from God, continue to be faithful and wait what He will do. I’m a living testimony of what happens when God is faithful to us and we are faithful to Him.

All this to say, don’t underestimate God. Keep dreaming big and expecting God to move in your life and He will do more than you could ever imagine.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Just take the time to thank God that He is faithful. Take the time to pray and be grateful for who He is and what He does. Reflect on the times where you have seen Him move in your life. Reflect on the times when maybe you weren’t as faithful to God but He remained faithful to you. Take that with you as you pray today and pray however you feel led. Have a conversation with Him, if you need something tell Him, tell Him your greatest hopes and dreams and watch what He does.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 294!

Day 288: Living Well Series (Part 3): Our Living is a Result of Our Loving

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Ephesians 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

2 John 1:5-6

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

John 12:34-35

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Recently I was listening to a podcast of Chad Veach he said sometime that really struck me and inspired this series. He said, “Your living is a result of your loving.” When I thought about that, it made so much sense to me and it actually shined a light on how we as Christians are living. Are we loving people the way god has purposed us to. Our entire faith, our foundation is built on love, so how we love is ultimately a result of how we live. So few words, yet so profound.

Over and over throughout the bible there is a common theme, love. God loved us, we love Him, and we love people, in that order. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus’ response was love. Love God, love people. In those two commandments we obey the law. Love impacts the way we live, it impacts who we are, and how we see people. When we come into the knowledge and understanding of God’s unconditional love towards us, it changes our lives, and ultimately changes how we live. 1 John 4:8 tells us whoever does not love does not know god because god is love, so there is no way we can walk with God and live according to Him word if we are not walking and living in love.  

I’m not sure if you’ve ever hated anyone before, but I have and I can tell you it impacts the way you live, it breeds nothing but bitterness, anger, frustration, revenge, and disappointment. It was when I learned to love that my life began to change for the better. Walking in love means walking in and with God all the days of our lives. Meaning we are full of forgiveness, humility, patience, joy, peace, kindness.  

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I propose the question, how are we loving? Are we loving God and loving people? What I’m getting at here is are we loving the way we say we are? Because how we live will show it. I can save for myself that I do always love the way I should. Sometimes I can treat people better. Sometimes I can have a bit more patience with people, with God, and myself. I’m not perfect, none of us are; but we serve a perfect God. A God who is constantly teaching us, molding us, and correcting us. So even when we aren’t loving the way we should we can turn to Christ and take an example from His life. That’s how it should look. When we truly walk in love we are walking in the light of Christ. When we walk in love we inhabit all the fruits of the spirit. When we walk in love, loving our neighbor isn’t that huge of a task. We as must learn to allow how we love dictate how we live. Meaning we must submit our hearts to Christ and allow Him to teach us how to live and walk in love. Over and over the Gospels tells us to love God and love people. If we break that down a bit, when we truly love God it will change the way we live. We will live a life devoted to Him because we love Him. We will seek His face and live according to His word because that what love does. We will not walk away from someone we love, we will not want to live apart from the person we love, so loving God automatically impacts the way we live. Anything that separates us from God we will do away with it because we love Him so much we cannot bear to be away from Him. That’s good living. Then as we love God, we love His people,  we begin to see the world through the lense or filter of God’s love. Meaning we begin to treat people the way Jesus would. Loving people the way we love ourselves means doing what we would do for ourselves and even more. How we love one another is a result of how we love God. We cannot know what love is until we know God’s love. Sometimes we are loving people the wrong way because we have yet to experience God’s love. God not only loves us but He teaches us how to love.   

All this to say, love changes the way we live. Living well means walking in love, and walking in love means walking with the Lord. Living well is a result of how we love. Are we loving the way we should? Love gives us a different outlook on life, a new perspective. Living well is loving well.

Response/Prayer Time

Respond in whatever way you feel led. Talk to God about living well by loving Him and his people. Have a conversation about what that means.  

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 289, to continue the series!