Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
This is Apostle Paul, and he's speaking to the church of Thessalonica. His prayer is this: I want your love for one another to grow. Now, it's not like this church was a loveless church. It's not like they didn't love each other at all. But there was room for growth in the church. And no matter how long you and I have been walking with the Lord, whether it's a month or 10 or 20 years, there's always room to grow in the area of love.
Love Begins Within Us
The good news is, Romans chapter 5 and verse 5 tells us that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. So when you and I said yes to Jesus, God's love was shed abroad in our hearts. So that means you and I have the ability and the capacity to love people. And Paul says, hey, it starts in the church. Let your love for one another grow. And then it says this: and for all people. So it starts in the church and then it goes outside the church.
Believe me, the world is watching how the church loves one another. So then the question stands: What is a practical way that we can love on people? I think a good roadmap to loving people is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. When you get a chance, read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It tells us that love is patient and love is kind. It is slow to anger. Beautiful chapter on loving people.
When Love Gets Difficult
Chances are there's somebody in your life that's probably hard to love. I know I experienced that about three months ago with a buddy of mine, and I was holding an offense. It was just hard to love this man. And when I'd go to the Lord in prayer, I'm like, "Lord, give me an opportunity to speak to him and give me wisdom to use the right words," because it's almost like I was walking on eggshells with him.
And here's what I learned as I spent time with the Lord: God softened my heart. As I spent time in the Word and in God's presence, here's what happened. God started to fill me with His love, and now me and him are actually really good friends to make a long story short.
Three Practical Ways to Love
How do we love on people? I want to give us just a couple of practical things that we can do. And the first thing is this—it's very basic, but we pray for them. We pray for their families, their health, their finances. Just cover them in prayer.
The second way is this: we don't expose them, we cover them. What do I mean by that? You know, when we're hurt, when we're offended, the temptation is to gossip about people. The temptation is to expose people. Don't do that. Don't expose them. Cover them. Why do I say that? It's because God has covered us with His grace. And the best thing we can do is cover people and extend the grace that God has extended to us.
A third way, and you might not like this point, but we need to confront sin. If I have a buddy that I love and I see him going in the wrong direction, the most loving thing I can do is confront him and say, "Stop doing that," in a very loving way.
So, we pray for people, we cover people, and we confront sin. Those are three practical ways that you and I can walk in love.
