Pursuit22

Week 5:  “Loving Out Loud”

Memory Verse
{1 John 4.19 – “We love because He first loved us.”}

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~Day 1~
How can we possibly love others?

Last week we studied about the characteristics of love. (Keep in mind that as we study love, we do not mean it in the romantic sense of the word but are talking about having love for others.) As we studied what love looks like last week did you feel a little overwhelmed? Was there a part of you that felt like that would be impossible? It’s easy to get caught up in all the ways we should we love and feel like we are not capable of that kind of love.

Read 1 John 4.19.

So… we can love because He loves us! He enables us to love with the same love that He loves with.

Read 1 John 4.7-8.

Once again we see that love is FROM God. He enables us to love in a way that is pleasing to Him. This verse says that “whoever loves God has been born of God and knows God.” As we grow closer to God and know God more and more, we will continue to love others more and more. We won’t just LOVE them more but we will love them with a more perfect love. A love that is more like Christ’s love for us.

-          Can you recall a situation where you acted out of love and you know it had to be from God?

-          Meditate on a situation that you need to ask God to help you love in. Ask God to work in you to help you love others even when it’s hard or not what you would prefer to do.

 

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~Day 2~
What is the purpose of loving others?

Take a look at the verses that come right before our focus last week…  1 Corinthians 13.1-3.

This passage pretty much says that no matter what we do, if we don’t do it out of love others…. It means nothing. It is a waste of time. You can have the best talents, most skills, and give away the most possessions BUT if you don’t do it out of love for others…. It is no benefit! We see that the first purpose in loving others is that it is the necessary ingredient for everything else to matter.

Love is like the sugar of a cake. If you make a cake… it doesn’t matter what else you put in the cake, if you leave out the sugar, it won’t taste good. You can add cocoa and the chocolate taste be there but it still won’t be good. You can add the perfect mix of flour and eggs and baking powder that makes the cake have the perfect texture… but if you leave out the sugar, it won’t taste good. Love is the same way! It is a necessary ingredient for serving just like sugar is a necessary ingredient for cake!

Read John 13.34-35.

Another huge purpose in our love for others is that’s the trait that identifies us as Christians. Jesus said that they will know us and identify us by our love.

-          Do you feel like when others look at the way you love others, they can recognize you have a relationship with Christ? Do you wish your life was like this?

-          Do you sometimes focus your attention on tasks without doing it out of love? Do you see now that it is impossible to do anything worthwhile without love?

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~Day 3~
How much?

Read Mark 12.30-31.

So the first commandment is obviously to love God with everything, above everything! But we can’t obey the first commandment without putting the second one into practice also. We are love others as we love ourselves. Just think about this…. He doesn’t say your family as much as you love yourself or your closest friends as much as you love yourself. He says your NEIGHBOR as you love yourself. Anyone around you. Most people struggle loving their closest friends and family more than themselves. Can you imagine what it would look like if we as a body of believers started loving others before ourselves?

Read Philippians 2.3-4.

These verses tell us that not only should we love them as ourselves but put them in front of ourselves. We should seek to meet their needs before meeting our own! This is calling us to not just see them as equal in priority but as top priority next to serving Jesus.

-          Do you feel like you focus on your love for God but try to ignore loving others?

-          Is it possible to love God and not love others?

-          How can you put into practice putting others needs before your own this week?

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~Day 4~
In what way?

Read Romans 12.9.

I had you read this verse last week. I want to reiterate that love must be GENUINE! NLT version reads, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.”  Don’t just go through the motions and act like you are loving them. Don’t just say you are loving them. LOVE THEM!

This past week at my young adult group we studied about love and what that looks like with our brothers and sisters in Christ. One of my friends there presented an amazing illustration that I want to share with you through this next set of Scripture.

Read 1 John 3.16.

Not John 3.16… though very similar. This verse shows us that the equivalent of “love” is “laying down your life.” The word “life” here is not the word used for physical life although I think we are called to love to that extent. The word “life” used here is the word that refers to your needs, desires, and plans. So when it says we should lay down our life for our brother (brother/sister in a spiritual sense) it means we should sacrifice our needs, desires, and plans for their good. In the next chapter after this passage John goes into great detail about love. I’m going to write out that passage but every time John uses the word “love” I’m going to substitute it with “lay down your life” or “sacrificial love.” This will give you a somewhat different perspective.

1 John 4.7-21:

Beloved, let us lay down our lives for one another, for laying down our lives is from God, and whoever lays down his life has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not lay down his life does not know God, because God is sacrificial love. In this the sacrificial love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this laying down of our lives, not that we have laid down our lives for God but that He laid down His life for us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God laid down His life for us, we also ought to lay down our lives for one another. No one has ever seen God; if we lay down our lives for one another, God abides in us and His sacrificial love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and believe the sacrificial love that God has for us. God is laying down His life for us, and whoever abides in laying down his life abides in God and God in him.  By this is laying down our lives perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in laying down your life, but perfect sacrificial love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in laying down his life. We lay down our lives because He first laid down His life for us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother he is a liar; for he who does not lay down his life for his brother whom he has seen cannot lay down his life for God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever lays down his life for God must also lay down his life for his brother.

-          Be honest with yourself. Dow you lay down/put aside your needs, wants, and plans for others?

-          Do you want to?

-          How do you fix this?

 

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~Day 5~
Good Example!

Obviously our first example is Christ! Want to see a more common demonstration of love? Look at Ruth!

Read Ruth Chapter 1.

-          Do you notice how Ruth loved Naomi?

-          Reread 1.16-17. Do you think Ruth laid down her desires, plans, wants, and needs for love of Naomi?

-          Spend time this week making your time about loving others and seeking their needs before your own.

 

What are your thoughts? I want feedback. Feel free to send me any question responses. I would love to hear from you, answer any questions you have, and pray for your needs specifically. Feel free to share this, comment, email me at brandycaudill90@gmail.com, or facebook message me!