Loving Radically

1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done with love.

Many of us can recognize this verse! We may have heard it in a sermon, seen it on

social media, purchased a sign from Hobby Lobby, or even written it on a notecard. This

verse is beautiful and encouraging. What a wonderful reminder to seek to do all that we

do with love! Even though it is a beautiful verse that is quoted often, it also gives us a

charge to do all that we do in love.

Before I went to college, I received a poster that had this verse on it, and I hung it in my dorm room. I would walk past it several times every day! One day, I thought to myself, “Do I do everything with love?” I know the answer is “no.” I definitely fall short of this command every day. But that does not mean that God cannot grow me in doing everything with love. Of course He can!

How can we seek to do everything with love? Before we can do everything with love, we must know what Jesus says about love.

Matthew 22:37-40  

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

In order to do everything with love, we must first love God. We are able to love Him

because He has first loved us, and we can love God through our obedience to Him. To

love God fully, we should have no idols before Him. When we try to “do everything with

love” without loving God supremely, we are unable to love everything else well. We

don’t want to get our “loves” out of order! To ensure that we are loving God supremely,

we can ask God to reveal areas of our lives that have become more important or take

more of our adoration than Him. After Jesus commands believers to love God, He tells

them to love others as themselves. In order to love others rightly, we need to humble

ourselves by seeking the needs of others before ourselves.

Philippians 2:3-4

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in

lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

As believers, we are called to love others. This sounds like such an easy command. It

can be easy to love those who love us or to love those who are kind to us! But what

about those who have spoken poorly about us or those who have hurt the ones we

love? It is definitely more difficult to love those people. Jesus calls His followers to a

radical kind of love that is different from how the world views love. He says,

Matthew 5:44

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

This means that we are called to love those who are the most difficult to love. Jesus

doesn’t say that we have to talk to them all the time or let them walk all over us, but He

does say that we are called to love them. We are called to humble ourselves and love

them as Jesus does. The world says that if someone wrongs us, we can also wrong

them. It lies to us and tells us, “They don’t deserve for me to show love to them.” When

we begin to think this, we should immediately remember that we are unworthy of God’s

love. We are sinners who are deeply in need of a Savior and so are those who are the

hardest to love!

Ephesians 2:4-5

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

Even though we do not deserve to be loved by God, He graciously extends His love to

us! And He loves us greater than anyone else can love us or ever will love us. That’s a

lot of love!

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down

one’s life for his friends.

Jesus taught His disciples that the greatest love is one of sacrifice. Jesus demonstrated

the greatest love by sacrificing Himself to every single person, so that if they repent of

their sins and believe in Him, they can spend eternity with Him! When we choose to love

God above all else, we deny our comforts, desires, and preferences in our submission

to Him. Jesus has given His life for us, how could we not give everything to Him in

return? Since we have personally experienced this great love by which God has loved

us, we are given the power through the Holy Spirit to love others and to do everything

with love. Loving others is a byproduct of loving God supremely. When we have the

perspective that we have received love that we do not deserve, it is easier to love others

who also do not deserve to be loved! Since God’s love lives within us, we are able to do

everything from a posture of love. His love should influence what we say, do, and think,

and compel us to radically love others as He has radically loved us.

My challenge for you this week is to think of what is holding you back from loving God

supremely and talk to Him about loving Him above all else.

Prayer Tip: Pray for guidance in doing everything in love!

Prayer Points:

• Jesus, thank you for loving me sacrificially and making a way for me to be in

relationship with You!

• Lord, reveal people who are difficult for me to love and empower me to love them

as You do.

• God, help me to do everything in love.

• Lord, I can’t love well without loving You supremely. Please forgive me for loving

_____________ more than you.

God, you are a good Father. Thank you for loving me and sending Jesus to take the

punishment that I deserve. I am unworthy of Your love, yet You graciously extend Your

love to me! I want to love you more than anything else and to love others as You do.

Please help me to love the people that You have placed in my path today and that if

they ask why, I would have an opportunity to share of Your great love for them. May I be

reminded of the gift of the gospel throughout my day today. God, you are worthy of my

praise and devoting my life to loving people as You do. In your precious and holy name,

Amen.

Amalia Parker

Flourish Women’s Ministry

Mid-Way Baptist Church