THINK TOGETHER
What does it mean to love someone?
READ TOGETHER
Nobody wants to be a nobody. We all want to be a somebody. Often in order to be a somebody instead of a nobody we try to show off, or we try to be really good at something, or we try to be smarter than everyone, or we try to be better looking than everyone, or be funnier or cooler.
But the Bible says that the way to be a somebody instead of a nobody is to simply be loved by God and then love others like he does. Here’s what Paul said to the Corinthian Christians:
1 Corinthians 13:2. if I… have not love, I am nothing.
Paul says the way to be a nobody is to not have God’s love. Do you have God’s love? I hope you do. How do we get God’s love? By simply trusting in Jesus to be our savior. By believing that he has given us God’s love for free when he died on the cross and rose again. And when we have received God’s love then his love is inside of us. Listen to how Paul describes it in the next part of 1 Corinthians 13:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Now when Paul says over and over what love is or what it does or doesn’t do, he’s not just telling us that we better love this way. No. He is telling us how Jesus loves us. Jesus is patient with us and kind to us. Jesus does not envy or boast. Jesus is not arrogant or rude. Jesus is not angry or upset with us. He tells us the truth. He bears our burdens and endures our heartaches with us. He loves us no matter what.
Even when we are a nobody in the eyes of everyone else, we will never be a nobody in God’s eyes because we will always have his love.
Because of Jesus we will always have God’s love.
With Jesus we can always love others.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Read a story like the Velveteen Rabbit together. This classic story shows how love can make a toy “real.” God’s love makes us real in much the same way.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you are love and your love is in my heart. Now I can love like you. I’ll never be a nobody because you have made me a somebody. Amen.
TLICfamily 