EPISODE 68: LOVING OTHERS
A MESSAGE FROM SARA:
Recently I was asked to speak at an event called Anchored at my church, Burnt Hickory Baptist. My sister-in-law has been a huge part of starting this ministry for moms of young children and watching it come to fruition has been exciting. When she asked me to speak, I was very excited. If you know anything about me, you know I far prefer speaking over writing. However, Monica is doing a good job of stretching me in that avenue and helping me to overcome my battles. In any event, the Lord laid a message on my heart that He has really unveiled to me in my own life…the story of love.
This isn’t just any kind of love, but the kind of love that can transform the world. As women, most of our day is spent loving other people and getting very little of it in return. It can be exhausting and often times draining. But that’s when we have to step back and make sure we are loving in the right order and in the right mind.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)
Just the other night, I was at my friend’s house participating in a Bible study called Undaunted by Christine Caine (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her…we are going to meet someday). In this study, she says,
“God’s love will carry you. God’s love will sustain you. And, in fact, that love will cause you to soar and fulfill our God-given destiny and purpose. And when you know that love, when you know it deeply, then you can’t help but love others.”
AMEN and AMEN!! I got all “geeked up” (yes, I said it) because I thought, that’s exactly what we are talking about in this series. It has to come from a wellspring of love in you that is all God’s love which overflows to the world around us. We cannot love the world around us with endurance and commitment if it does not come from the right source. I am confident this is why we are full of a loveless community, church, or home. We have gotten tired and empty and feel isolated, exhausted and tapped.
We have become SUPER WOMAN instead of A SERVING WOMAN. We often LOVE TO GET instead of LOVE TO GIVE.
You might be saying, “Sara, I hear what you are saying but I just don’t know how to change my perspective.” The best way to change the way you think is to change what is going into it! The first thing to do is pray for God to open your eyes to what kind of love this is.
Secondly, take a long look at I Corinthians 13. In our resources we have a link to an amazing article that goes verse by verse and explains what this love is and what it isn’t. Once you change the way you think, you will change what you believe, and then the way you act will flow from that.
We cannot impart what we do not possess. Take the love of God and let it fill you heart…let the love of a Christ who would die for you and die for me cause you to overflow with a knowledge of real love. And then let that love flow through you and into the world around you…enemies and neighbors alike.
Christ knew that this love was the key to the blueprint of living victoriously. That’s why He made it such a huge commandment. He also knew that a love this big lived out by millions of professing Christians would transform the world. Let us be the ones that start a new revolution…a new transformation…a revival of our hearts!
Be Loved and Live!
Want to dig into this topic more? Check out the Be Together Small Group Bible Study on Be Loved and Live. It includes deeper levels of understanding, discussion and practical application. Get your copy today!
