The Study
Back in 2012, we did a hymn study on "The Love of God" which led into a study of love. If you missed that study or would like to review it, click here. So, today I wanted to revisit the word 'love'.
Colossians 3:14 "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
God's word says that love binds all of these virtues together and that we are to put on love. So what does Paul mean when he says we need to put on love? Let's look at these verses first to explain.
Colossians 3:7-8 "You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."
These verses mention how we used to walk in these ways in the life we once lived prior to accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior. Then the passage continues with 'but now' we must rid ourselves of these things because we are a new person in Christ. We must rid ourselves of the 'old me' or the 'old you'. It’s a lifelong process; it’s a daily process. It’s a daily choice to wake up and choose to live for Him each day. This is sanctification. Sanctification refers to the Holy Spirit progressively changing a believer to be more like Him.
So, now we understand that Paul is saying that we need to make a daily choice to put on love. But how do we do that? Sometimes that’s hard to do when we’ve been hurt or things don’t seem fair. But the greatest glory we can give to God is to love and obey Him at all times even when it’s difficult. It wasn’t easy for Jesus to go the cross yet He did it out of obedience and love.
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
He is our greatest example. God lavishes His love on us. He loves us without limits. His love is immeasurable. And because He lavishes His love on us, we should lavish it on others even when it's hard! We glorify God by faithfully doing what He calls us to do.
1 John 3:1a “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
There was a lady in Bible study that was an unbeliever. She eventually came to Christ and she was asked about it. Did she come to Christ from doing her Bible study or what was it? She said she came to Christ because of the love shown to her by the Bible study group.
Do you love others as God would love them? Are you showing Christ’s love to people inside and outside of the church? Or are you focusing on the things that bug you about someone? If you are focusing on what bugs you about them, think about the things you do that bug God. I know I do things that bug Him and bug others. We all do! How about people in your church? How are you loving them? We all need to love people inside and outside of church with a genuine love and with God’s love. Can you imagine how much more pleasant today's world would be if more of us could truly put on God's love for people each and every day? If there is someone that you have trouble loving, ask God for His love for that person. He will give it to you! The love we show others is true evidence that we belong to Christ. God considers no one unlovable. Did you see that? He considers no one unlovable. Love is the greatest virtue. Do you desire to love above all things? Love denies self for the good of others. Jesus is the perfect picture of love. Christians love for one another proves that we are related to Jesus. Do people see that you are related to Jesus or to the world? What would your family and friends say?
Journaling Prompts
- How has someone shown you Christ's love?
- How have you been changed by the love someone has shown you?
- How have you denied yourself to show love to someone else?
- How has God helped you love someone you considered unloveable?
The Art
Today I did a quick pocket page in my favorite little journal. I thought it would be great to have this reminder and scripture to 'put on love'. To see a few details on how I created this page, click here.
Thanks for joining me today. Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here. I highly encourage you to read the entire book of Colossians. It's only four chapters but so extremely rich. Will you do that this month? Blessings,
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2 comments:
I too have been on a study of "Love". What started it for me was a question while listening to a sermon, it was, "If there was no heaven, would you still love God?".
That caused me to question what is meant by 'love' esp what God says about the subject.
Thank you for this blogpost.
Thankyou Patter for being lead by the Spirit to share such great Bible truths. I do like your artwork... my favourite red for that lovely large heart. I hope that all is going well with your family.
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