Faith in Jesus Shows Itself Through Love
OPENING PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, help me understand how I can live out my faith by loving others. Amen.
READ:
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)
REFLECT:
When it comes to faith, it’s easy to get caught up in things that we feel define our faith so much that we forget what matters most. These things can range from studying scripture, our worship service attendance, or even how much time we spend in prayer. While all these things are good, we forget sometimes that a person of faith is marked by love.
Paul writes in Galatians above that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Think about that, the primary way someone will know we follow Jesus is by how we love them. In every situation we find ourselves we can look at the person and just think “what is the most loving thing I can do right now? Our faith is marked by love more than anything else.
APPLY:
We can take a look at our lives and simply ask this question, “where am I lacking in showing love?” The answer may be a coworker, a family member, a friend that you have strained relations with or maybe a person that hurt you recently. The thing about showing love to others is although we usually know what would be the most loving thing to do, it's often hard taking that step.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, show me how to continually express love to others in every situation I’m in. Amen.