October 9, 2023

TRUE LOVE OR EMOTION

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

1 John 3:16-18 NLT

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TODAY’S THOUGHT

In our present culture love is an emotion or accident for many. Just think a moment about how we talk about love. “I fell in love.” Is love a ditch we accidentally fell into. We weren’t planning to fall, we didn’t see it coming, we just fell and here we are. It doesn’t work like that. Attraction and arousal are emotions that can happen by accident. But attraction and arousal are not love—they are emotions. True love is an action. We show that we love someone by what we do with our time, talent, and treasure. If I say “I love Cindy” but spend all my time at work, my actions would say I love my work more than Cindy. If I say I love Cindy but spend my treasure on playing golf or buying myself expensive toys, then I don’t really love Cindy. My actions suggest I love golf and toys. When we love someone, we make a choice to commit our time, talent, and treasure to enhance their life. We want to work to make life better for them. We are not selfish we are selfless. When we say we love God more than anything then we spend our time, talent and treasure enhancing His kingdom. That means we are looking for opportunity to love people as God’s ambassador.

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TODAY’S PRAYER

Holy Spirit help me to be someone who shows my love through my actions. Help me today to love others and love You the way I should.

“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”