"We Love Others Best When We Love God Most."

Thank you for joining me the past few weeks on our journey of learning about the Proverbs 31 woman. I hope it has blessed your life as much as it has blessed mine. I needed to read about a good, pure wife-- I needed to study it. My heart's desire is to be the best person that I can possibly be... and Proverbs 31 seemed like a great place to start.

I read the book of Galatians last week and chapter 5 moved me. I am sure most of you have read or heard about the fruits of the spirit, but those are verses that always convict me... and push me.

Galatians 5:22-23 states, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (KJV)

Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things." (ERV)

Galatians 5:22-23, " But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely." (The Message) 


Over the next 9 days, I thought we would discuss a different fruit of the spirit of the day. 

Today is LOVE.

According to the dictionary, love is described as "tenderness, warmth, adoration, appreciation, respect, charity, delight, enjoyment." 

God has called us to be LOVING.

He wants us to love our family.
He wants us to love our friends.
He wants us to love strangers.
He wants us to love our neighbor.
He wants us to love Him.

We are Called to Love our Family.

1 Timothy 5:3-8 states, "If a widow has family members to take care of her, let them learn that religion begins at their own doorstep and that they should pay back with gratitude some of what they have received. This pleases God immensely.....  Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That’s worse than refusing to believe in the first place." (The Message)

Mother Teresa said, 'If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.'

"Love your family, spend time, be kind, and serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised and today is short." [Unknown]

One of the most important things we can learn in this life is to LOVE our family. Loving them means spending time with them, being patient with them, taking care of them, respecting them, adoring them... spreading unconditional love as far as it can go.

Our parents are growing older. Spend time with them.
Our children are growing before our eyes. Spend time with them.
Our spouses get lonely. Spend time with them.

We don't want to carry around the unnecessary burden of regret for lost time.
LOVE hard today.

We are Called to Love our Friends.

Proverbs 17:17 states, "A friend loves you all the time, but a brother was born to help in times of trouble." (ERV)

I know our friends might get in some sticky situations. They may disappoint us. They may lose sight of what our friendship means... but our friends deserve our unconditional love. In fact, they probably need it.

"True friends are those rare people who come to find you in dark places and lead you back to the light." [Unknown]

This is what we are called to do. 

To be honest with our friends. To be loving towards them. To help them. To bless them. To pick them up when they can't do it themselves. We are there to help heal the broken part of them. 

God has called us to LOVE our friends. He knew they would aggravate us, frustrate us, upset us.... but He didn't command our love to be circumstantial. He commanded our love to be unconditional. Pure. True.

We are Called to Love Strangers

I read a quote once that said, "Smile at strangers. We are all in this together" and I think that sums up what God wants from us more than anything.

We are all humans. We are all struggling. We all have rough days. We all have good days. The important thing is: we are all humans. We are all in this together. We are all trying to find peace, love, goodness, joy... some of us are looking in different places, but the point is: we are all looking.

We are called to LOVE strangers. SMILE at strangers. Be KIND to strangers.

Hebrews 13:2 states, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

We never know who that person is... what demons they are battling... what happened the day before... how they feel going to bed at night.

Why would we want to make this journey any harder for someone else??

LOVE.

We are Called to Love our Neighbor

According to Mark 12:30-31, " Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second most important command is this: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’[c] These two commands are the most important.”

I read a quote on Pinterest that stated, "When Jesus said love your neighbor, He knew your neighbor would act, look, believe, and love differently than you. It's kind of the whole point." This really moved me because I believe it goes back to what we have been talking about-- love is unconditional. People do not have to fit this certain mold for us to love them- we love them because He called us to do. Plain and simple. 

I am sure some of our neighbors are going through hard times right now... and they could use that smile, good gesture, or kind word. 

1 John chapter 4 speaks about love.

"Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child. And so everyone who loves knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.... If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him. God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters." (ERV)

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy."

God called us to LOVE. He called us to have compassionate, kind, charitable hearts. To everyone.

Pinterest is my go-to for quotes (if you haven't already noticed, ;)) and I read one that I HAVE to share before moving on.

'Turn off the news and go love your neighbor.'

God, help us to follow your neighbor of LOVING EVERYONE.  You didn't care about their background... their upbringing... what they were dressed like... the situation they were in. You just loved... with every fiber of Your being. You wanted to do good... bless others... spread love. Help us to be like You, Jesus!

We are Called to Love Him! 


1 John 4:19 says, "We love because God first loved us."
Mark 12:30 states, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength."

We are called to love Him....

even when we might not understand what He's doing in our lives... even when we might be upset with Him.. even when we feel like He just might not love us in that moment. 

We are called to love Him.

Of course, we have free will. He doesn't MAKE us love Him. He WANTS us to love Him. He wants that friendship-- a relationship.

I don't know how many of you have watched 'The Shack' yet but it is an amazing movie that I DEFINITELY recommend! There is one part of the movie where Mack says to Jesus, "You know, you don't fit the religious stuff I've always heard about You" and Jesus says, "Religion. It's too much work. I don't want slaves. I want friends."

That is all He wants from us. Friendship. A loving, sweet friendship.

He is in the middle of all of our hurt. All of our fear. All of our pain. And through loving Him, we can come to heal.

Love heals.

His love heals.

Our love can heal others.

'We love others best when we love God most.'

Help us to love You most, Jesus. And help us to love others like You love them. Help us to see souls like You see them. Help us to ease burdens like You do. Help us to see the needs like You see them.

We are Called to LOVE.

"Do everything in love." (1 Corinthians 16:14)



God help love to pour out of us. Every word. Every action. Every single that we do. Let Your love radiate from us. Let love be in our smiles, in our conversations, in our work. Help us to love our families how You called us to love. Help us to love our friends how You called us to love. Help us to love strangers and our neighbors how You called us to love. And help us to love You in whatever circumstance you bring us through and to.