Devotion

We have heard so much about love that we can be tone deaf to the message. All of us have heard sermons, read stories, watched examples of love. We are so familiar with the topic that our minds, hearts, and feet can be closed to learning more. Hopefully each of us isnt in this place. Through this devotion perhaps each of us can take a step deeper into the Agape love that Jesus taught his disciples. Comments about the devotion can be E-mailed to Pastor Paul at pastor@colpres.org.

Today as you pray, pray that we at Chain of Lakes can be known by this agape love. Pray that we can encourage each other. Pray that this love will always be our cornerstone.

Friday, July 27 Read 1 John 4:7-12

The first two verses of this passage are worth committing to memory, Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 Try the 3-2-1-1-2-3 method of memorizing this Scripture. Notice that John addressed people in the community as Beloved. Being in the community was a form of love. Imagine if we at Chain of Lakes addressed each other as Beloved. It would seem strange and probably wouldnt be understood by people outside of our congregation. But the idea would be consistent with this passage. God can never stop loving us because God is love. In these two verses John made the case for the idea that God is love. We come to know God not from our minds, but through loving God and others. Think about the Bible quizzes that some people took when they were growing up. The idea was to increase our knowledge of God. Think about doing a love quiz, that is equipping young people how to love even more. If someone gave you a quiz on how well you are doing at loving, how would you do? As you pray today, pray that you will always be able to pass this quiz.

Thursday, July 26 Read Galatians 5:22-26

Its significant that love is the first of the characteristics of the Fruits of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul mentioned in this passage. The first word in a list is always the most important. Love is the most important of these characteristics. The transliteration of the Greek word is agape. The other words that are translated as love are philos and eros. Philos is a love of a friendship and eros is erotic or sexual love. Agape is self-sacrificial love. It looks to the interest of the other ahead of the interest of self. This type of love is not encouraged in our cultureits sometimes not even encouraged in churches! As a new church we want to be known by this agape love! Being known by this love takes practice and discipline. We cant grow in this agape love unless we have a community who encourages us and demonstrates this love.

Saturday, July 28 Read John 13:31-35

Being a disciple or follower of Jesus does not have to be a complicated process or idea. Jesus was clear in this passage

about what was important. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35 This verse was a new commandment. Some people describe it as the 11th commandment. In reality the 10 commandments can be understood as a description of this new commandment. As was shared yesterday a condition of being a disciple is to love others. Unfortunately we in the church have made being a disciple too complicated. We want people to learn doctrines of the faith, or to be excellent at prayer, or to be able to share our testimony in front of others. And while these practices are all part of being a disciple they dont define a disciple. A disciple is one who loves. As you pray today, pray that this definition of being a disciple will be grasped by the church.

Folks in the Upper Midwest are not often comfortable with these types of displays of love and sacrifice. It goes against our nature of self-reliance. Some have too much pride to receive this much help. As you pray today, pray that these friends of the paralyzed man can be your example. Pray that you can grow in your understanding of agape love. What beautiful illustrations!

Monday, July 30 Read Mark 12:28-34

The Kingdom of God is not a complicated idea to understand. Its a place where people routinely love God and their neighbors in a sacrificial way. When the scribe truly understood Jesus teaching of the Great Commandment, it was as if a light bulb went off in his head. He understood Jesus and Jesus purpose in a completely new way. Look at Jesus statement in the last verse of this story: You are not far from the kingdom of God. Who wouldnt want to be in this place? Who doesnt want to see the kingdom take place here on earth? Jesus was clear that when our lives look like agape love we will not be far from the kingdom. It will be as if heaven came down into earth. Today pray that this kingdom will take place. Pray that you can demonstrate the kingdom today through your display of agape love.

Sunday, July 29 Read Luke 5:17-26

This passage doesnt mention the word agape or love, but the story is all about love. The friends of the paralyzed man loved him so much that they were willing to sacrifice for him. Look at the ways that they did sacrifice! They carried him on a bed When they got to the house they were willing to climb up on the roof of the house with the paralyzed man They were willing to dig a hole through the roof and then carefully let the paralyzed man through the hole to bring him to the floor. These friends werent doing this for themselves. Their motivation was love.

Tuesday, July 31 Read Luke 15:11-32

The father in the story was an example of agape love. He had every right to be mad at his younger son. But he waited patiently for him to return. When the father saw the son in a

distant, he ran to him and threw his arms around him. He killed the prize calf and threw a huge party. The entire scene smells of agape love. When we share agape love we often share it with people who dont deserve it or havent earned it from us. Our motivation isnt meritits creating the Kingdom. As you pray today, imagine every person in our new church sharing the agape love of the Father in this story. Imagine what an impact we could make by living into this characteristic that the Father shared. What a beautiful and startling vision?