Daily Devotionals
April 16, 2018
Love Is Friendship That Has Caught Fire
April 16, 2018
DAILY READING
This weekend’s reading: John 21:15-19
FIELD NOTES
“The greatest of these is Love.” “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” “Love never fails.” Love is possibly the most common theme throughout Scripture. We are called to love God, each other, ourselves, and all of God’s creation. I think sometimes we take love for granted- like we think we know what it means, but then we really don’t when it gets down to it. It’s like we make it too complicated when we are called to love the man who is homeless on the corner or a co-worker that has made us mad so we end up just ignoring the situation and moving on. Ann Landers, an advice columnist in the ‘50s and sister of the writer of Dear Abby, wrote “Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.” Her words remind me of Jesus’s words that call us to walk with one another, care for one another, forgive, and take joy in Christ’s grace in both the joyful and the difficult moments of life.
QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD
- How do you show Christ’s love to your family, your friends, your colleagues, and even the people that you don’t know on a day to day, practical level?
- How can you intentionally show love to all those you know and encounter each day?
PRAYER GUIDE
Lord help me to love my friends, my family, the people I don’t even know with a fiery passion as you loved your people. Teach me what love looks like on a day to day practical level. Don’t let me complicate it, but let me know what it means to truly love like you have loved us. Amen.