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loving others

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – March 30

Daily Bible Verse and DevotionDear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. – 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

This is a really challenging verse. It’s often easy to know the right thing to do. It’s easy to say the right things, and know what the right answers are to the questions they ask in your small group or Bible study. However, when it comes down to it, there is usually a disconnect between the thing we know to do and what we actually do.

That’s what today’s Bible verse is talking about. It’s saying that we shouldn’t just say that we love others. We shouldn’t just give the right answer at youth group, but rather we should let our lives live out the answer. Our lives should be reflecting the love of God towards others.

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So challenge yourself today. Don’t just say the right things at church and youth group, but rather live out God’s love in a big way. It might be talking to the girl who sits alone at lunch. Maybe you can buy your friend that is having a rough day a candy bar. Whatever it is, let yourself be used by God today to demonstrate love to those around you.

Three Steps To Love Difficult People

Teen Devotion - 3 Steps to Love Difficult PeopleHow many times do you struggle to love someone who is difficult to you? I remember I used to ride the bus to school and one girl always seemed to go out of her way to be mean to others. No matter what I did or said, she always seemed to have it out for me. From calling me mean names to making comments about my clothing she was one of meanest people I had ever met.

Loving someone like this girl can be really difficult. People who are unkind are hard to love. So how do we do it? How do we handle all the difficult people and difficult personalities?

Step One – Realize Their Value to God

Regardless of how that person treats you, they have value to God. They were created for a purpose, and even if they’re far from God, God loves them and wants to have a relationship with them.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it. – Psalm 139:14 (NLT)

God loves difficult people. He might not approve their actions but He loves them and wants a relationship with them. When you realize that they’re important to God it helps you be able to love them better.

Step Two – Realize Your Value To God

Just like the difficult person has value to God, you have value to him too. Never let another person and how they treat you determine your value. If you place your worth in how others treat you or what they think of you, you’ll always come up short.

Your value should be firmly planted in what God says about you. Just because someone isn’t kind to you doesn’t mean that you’re not important. You have value to God and His opinion is the one that counts.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! – Psalm 139:17

God is thinking about you. That shows your value to God. You’re important to Him. He loves you and knows you and wants the best for you. Choose to believe the value God places on your life.

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Step Three – Choose to Love

Regardless of how the mean person is treating you, you can choose to love them. They might not be right in how they treat you, but you can choose to love them. Ask God to show you ways to get along with them better. And choose to treat them with respect even when they aren’t doing the right thing to you.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. – John 13:35

Choose to love others. Show the world the love of Jesus by loving others. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be best friends with people who are mean, but you don’t have to return their meanness with meanness. You can love them, pray for them, and do good to them.

If you’re a youth leader, here are some discussion questions you can use with your youth group.

 

 

3 Things That Love Is

Youth and Teenager Devotion - 3 Things Love IsValentine’s Day is just around the corner. If you’ve been out recently, you’ve probably noticed that almost every store is littered with chocolates, balloons, stuffed teddy bears and flowers in anticipation for the holiday. If you’re single, Valentine’s Day can be a little rough. You can feel really left out of all the gift giving and love. However, if you’re in a relationship, it can be rough too. How do you get the ‘right’ present? How do you know if you got ‘enough’ stuff for them. Regardless of your feelings about Valentine’s Day, the holiday is a time that gets us thinking about love. So here are three things that love is.

Love is Complex

Love isn’t something that is easy to define. If you really think about, we all experience love in different ways. Some people experience love in an act of kindness. Others feel loved when they’re complimented, or when someone spends time with them. Others think love is all about doing nice things for another person or giving everyone they run into great big hugs.

Other people see love as an emotion, others a choice. Still others look at love and think it’s romance or your crush asking you to prom. With all of the different ways people experience and define love, we can see that love is really complex. In the midst of love’s complexity, we know that we all will experience love at some point in our lives.

Love is Impossible

God talks about love in the Bible. One of the places that God lays out what love looks like is in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. – 1 Cor 13:4-7 (NIV)

We can read this verse and feel a little overwhelmed. Here is this big long list of stuff love is, and stuff that love isn’t. It can make you feel like a failure. Who’s really patient and kind when their brother has just stolen the TV remote from them for the 725th time? Who really doesn’t envy when your friend made the football team at school and you didn’t? Who doesn’t boast and make themselves seem better to others than they really are? Who really doesn’t seek their own? Who really doesn’t keep score when others treat them wrong?

If we’re honest, most of us fall short of what love is. We don’t look out for others and we aren’t always kind. The definition of love God shows us in this verse is pretty much impossible for us to live up to. No person can be all these things all the time, and until we realize that we’re not able to love the way that God describes, we’ll never really appreciate the fact that God helps us love.

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In the Bible we see that God has put His love in our hearts. He gives us the love we need to love others. We just have to rely on the deposit of love that God has already placed in our hearts.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:5 (NLT)

If we’re feeling overwhelmed by how hard it is to love, then we need to focus in on the fact that God has given us the love we need to love others. He’s poured this love in abundance in our hearts. We just have to believe it and tap into that love that’s already there. Here’s a few Tips for Dealing With Mean People

Love is Healthy

If you’ve ever worked out you know that exercise isn’t fun. It’s really hard and it’s a lot of work. However, exercise is something that helps keep you healthy. Sometimes, you’ve got to do things that aren’t fun and don’t feel good to get the results you want in your life. We know this is true when it comes to exercise and eating right. However, part of the reason God tells us to love others is because it’s healthy for us.

God knows that if we harbor a grudge, it has the potential to make us bitter. He knows that if we aren’t kind, we can become ungrateful. He knows that if we envy others we can become discontented with life. God knows us well, He knows the things that are good for us. When He tells us to love, He’s not doing it to make our lives harder. Rather God tells us to love because He knows it helps keep us healthy in our hearts. If we love, we don’t become bitter, we don’t become discontented with what we have. When we love we keep ourselves from becoming ungrateful, hateful and any other habits that are bad for our hearts. God tells us to love because He knows that love is the best way. He knows that it will help us in the long run.

Love is a complex thing, but it’s an area that is worth examining in your life. Are there areas where you’ve let seeds of discontent, anger, envy and other things grow? If so, take the necessary steps to begin the habit of love in your life. Ask God’s help for where to begin and what to do. Begin today to develop the healthy habit of love and see what God can do through you!

3 Ways Love Wins

teen and youth devotion on loving othersWe know that the Bible tells us to love others. We know that as Christians we should be kind and treat others with love because that is what God did to us. But when it comes to daily life, it can be hard to really believe that loving others is the way to go. It seems like it would be easier and make us feel better to get revenge on those who have treated us wrong. And even though its normal to feel this way, let’s take a look at three reasons why love wins out over revenge.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. – 1 Cor 13:4 (NIV)

  1. Love frees you. If you harbor a grudge and refuse to forgive you’re not teaching the other person a lesson. What you’re doing is making yourself mad, angry and bitter. Keeping unforgiveness and hate alive in your heart is a bad thing. You’ll end up unhappy and frustrated. When you choose to forgive and love others, regardless of what they did to you, you find yourself being freed up. Instead of always being angry and upset you can get past those things and move on with your life. God tells us to love others because it frees us. It allows us to continue on with our lives and to heal.
  2. Love sets you apart. Most people respond with bitterness, revenge and hate when someone does something wrong to them. Imagine if you choose love instead. Do you think that might make someone take a second glance at you? Do you think that might open some opportunities to share Jesus with someone? When you choose to walk in love with others it will set you apart. Walking in love is different from the norm, but its certainly better. People will begin to notice when you respond to others and difficult situations with love.
  3. Love restores. The great thing about choosing to love is that it brings restoration to the situation. It can cause friendships to be mended and things to get back to normal much quicker than if you would respond in hate and anger.

Loving others is something we’re encouraged to do in the Bible. Its not always the easiest path to take, but if you choose to respond to others in love is worth it. So, the next time you’re tempted to get really angry, lose your cool, or just flat out take revenge on someone, take a few moments to reflect. Realize that if you respond to the person and situation in love, you could come out on the other side a winner.

Take some time today to think about what real love is by reading 1 Corinthians 13. It shows a great picture of what true love looks like.