Saturday Devotional

“Love other as I have loved you”

Helloooo! It’s the second day of Fall Retreat, and we want to continue looking at what being rooted in Christ and abiding in Him looks like! Yesterday the devo talked about Adam and Eve in creation, and what it looked like for them to be rooted in Christ, and then active in sin. Today we will be reading through John 15, and look at what Jesus says being rooted and abiding in Him should look like, and how it connected to loving others! There will be Scripture to read through, and then prayer prompts to think and pray through! 

Read John 15:9-17

In the beginning section of John 15, Jesus speaks about what it looks like to abide in Him, and what it means for Him to be the vine and for us to be the branches. Jesus speaks about how abiding and being connected to Him will bring good fruit, and in the later half of John 15 Jesus gives a practical example of what it could look like for it to be lived out. Jesus shows that abiding in Him should overflow into all parts of life, especially when it comes to loving others. He challenges His disciples to love others the way He loves them! He sets a pretty high bar for how to love well. We can trust that if we abide in Him and are rooted in Him, the Lord has the ability to help us love others well! 

The love that Jesus is talking about focuses on “laying one’s life down for another”, which shows an example of love that is sacrificial. He does not define love based on emotions or the feelings of the day, but based on serving one another. Loving others is not easy, it requires sacrifice and putting others first. Sacrifice takes action, it doesn’t just happen accidentally- it takes intentional thought and prayer to see opportunities around us to love others sacrificially! Our love from the Lord should extend to others around us! 

Spend some time praying through what it could look like to have sacrificial love toward people around you. What are practical ways to “lay down one’s life for another?” Is there hesitancy in your heart? Spend some time praying and put that before the Lord. 

Read Romans 5:8

This verse shows an example of the standard of love that Christ showed for us. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for us in his death on the cross for our sins! This is the kind of love the Lord wants us to extend to others! When Jesus shares this standard of love, this really is the opposite of the world’s standard of love. So much of the love of the world is focused on self love, and what can be gained from it. We should be extending love and care the way Christ did- radically and sacrificially!

Spend some time thinking about people who have shown sacrificial love to you, and thank the Lord for them! 

Another example of love is seen in Mark 12:30-31, where it says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” This verse shows the importance of both loving the Lord, and loving others- and really, these commandments go hand in hand! We get to be rooted to the Lord, and love him, and by God’s grace He helps us love others well. 

Reflecting back on what John 15 says, Jesus shows how when being rooted in him, we get to see a glimpse of His love for us, and that helps us know how to best love people. The Lord’s love gets to shine through us and impact those around us!

When reading through this, who comes to mind? Who are people the Lord has put around you that you feel the need to love well? Spend time praying for these people- that the Lord would open up doors to love them in radical and sacrificial ways! 

Spend time praying that the Lord would help you abide in him well, and that His love will grow in you! Pray that the Lord would help His love, not the world’s love, overflow through you.