Welcome to the end of Week 3! Here’s our recap!
This week’s theme: Walk in Love
Our memory verse: “Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us — He calls us children of God! It’s true; we are His beloved children.” 1 John 3:1 (The Voice)
Reading Recap: Have you ever felt like God was closing every door you were begging to walk through? This week, Wendy Blight starts us off with just that. Even when we can’t understand what God is up to, He is in charge and He is preparing a way — it just may not be the way we had planned.
God sees the bigger picture we can’t see and always acts on our behalf out of love. And not just any love, but an EXTRAVAGANT love that is lavished on us, as told in our Verse of the Week. John instructs us to stop and consider that love and what it really means. This incredible love God has for us is not just something to “know” — it’s something to LIVE.
Sin can get in the way, though. Sin simply means “missing the mark.” It’s missing God’s glorious standard. On our own, that’s a standard we could never live up to. But we have a Savior — Jesus Christ — who can and DID. And He took the penalty for our sins so we wouldn’t have to. Talk about an incredible love!
While Jesus has made a way for our forgiveness, Satan will still do everything he can to tempt us into sin. But we’re not left to fight alone! We have been given God’s Holy Spirit within us to guide and convict us and help us stand firm. As we abide in Him more and more by spending time in prayer and reading His Word, not only will we be better able to resist temptation, we’ll be transformed from the inside out!
Part of that transformation comes in how we love others. We have been called to love with a sacrificial love that moves beyond words and into ACTION. That’s what Jesus did for us by going to the cross! And if we could just let that love sink down deep within us and then pour out from us, how might that change our world? How might it change YOU?
Remember, YOU ARE A BELOVED DAUGHTER OF THE KING! Amen?
Reflect and Respond:
What’s one thing you learned this week that’s helping you take God’s love from something you know to something you LIVE?