Does Your Love Measure Up?

Day 3

Reality Check

 ^“ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11

Love one another. This seems like such an easy task. But how successful are we really? What standards are we using to measure our love for each other? Check out 1 John 4: 4-6 and Romans 8:5

1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Romans 8:5For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

 What measurement for love are we using? God’s or the world’s? God makes a clear distinction between the world (and our flesh) and those who abide in Christ and live by the spirit. We should be living by the spirit of truth and our measurement of love should come from there as well. Go back to 1 Corinthians 13. Use your concordance or do a Google search on all the scriptures of love. Is this the love you are referring to when you “love one another”

Practice: I've often wondered what meditating meant when it came to God's Word.  It can't really mean putting my fingers together and humming.  Meditate on the verses you found in your search. Write down the verses in a journal.  What comes to your mind?  Where does the Holy Spirit lead you?  Does He convict you?  Does He prompt you to work on a specific area of your life or perhaps convict you to show true love to someone you haven't been?  Is He prodding you to memorize a verse?  Listen to the Holy Spirit and where He leads you; that's what it means to "meditate" on God's Word.  Read, wait on God, listen, talk to, think about and immerse yourself in God's Word! 

Family Activity: Create a ruler (see picture). Instead of numbers, use the definition from  1 Corinthians 13 as markers. Throughout this month when someone seems to be acting without love, ask them to measure themselves. Maybe you even want to post this on the fridge or wall somewhere as a reminder.

Did you use the family activity? How did it go, what experiences did you have? (And what ages are your kids?)

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