Are you loving? Are you outrageously loving? The deeper question for all of us deals with what is going on beneath the obvious that would keep us from becoming as loving as God desires for us to be. Ask the Apostle Paul to explain love and the first thing out of his mouth: “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4).
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all. AMP
The Good News Translation says, “If I have no love, it does me no good.” The Message says, “I’m bankrupt without love.”
1 Corinthians 13:3-8 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. ESV
Personally I admit that I’m can be prone to impatience. It’s easy to blame this on my temperament or my family origin. However, Galatians 5:22 says patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Impatience is the result of the selfish, fallen, depraved nature. Selfishness is the real enemy of love.
An experiment was conducted with students at Princeton Theological Seminary. Students were informed that they would be recorded when speaking on an assigned topic in another building. On the pathway they would walk the students encountered a "victim" slumped in a doorway. Half of the students were assigned to talk on the Good Samaritan Parable. Some were told they were late and should hurry; some were told they had just enough time to get to the recording room; and some were told they would arrive early.
The variable that made a difference was how much of a hurry they were in. 63% of those who were in no hurry stopped to help, 45% of those in a moderate hurry stopped, and 10% of those that were in a great hurry stopped. It made no difference whether the students were assigned to talk on the Good Samaritan Parable.
The way we structure our schedules has a profound impact on how we translate beliefs into behavior. The busier you are the less Christlike you’ll be. Anthropologists are now studying the impact of the hurried lifestyle on the human race.
Hurry increases stress, decreases joy and diminishes love. Have you ever told the Lord you had about five minutes and in that time, you needed him to tell you his plan for your life. You’ve probably not taken this approach and the truth is it simply doesn’t work this way. We are told to learn to rest and to be still and know that he is God. If you don’t have quiet space devoted to your relationship with the Lord, I know for a fact you are not a person who hears God.
You can’t go deep if you don’t slow down.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Slow down and make room to love God and to love others this week.
Outrageously Loving
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
Every year we devote the first 40 days to focusing on foundational truths that speak to our identity, as a church family. We are OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same.
Peter endorses the idea of rehearsing foundational things with the intention of leaving them firmly planted in the heart of the next generation.
2 Peter 1:12-15 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in (them), I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live…and I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. NIV
Great encouragement comes from rehearsing God’s Word. It is God’s plan is for us to spend time drawing close to his heart and hearing his voice together as a family. This is why we start each meeting with this question first:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken his conversational nature in the group.
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all. AMP
• Good News Translation says, “If I have no love, it does me no good.”
• The Message says, “I’m bankrupt without love.”
1 Corinthians 13:3-8 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. ESV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words.
3. What do these verses teach us about God?
4. What do these verses teach us about people?
5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing?
6. Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Slow down and make room to love God and to love others this week.