Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission.

People Are Talking

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People talk—whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, or in person. Girls post about their boyfriends. People tweet about their plans. We text others about our friends. People talk, so what are they saying about you?

Read Philemon 1-5. Ponder verse 5.

To whom was Paul writing?

What had Paul heard about him?

When people talk about you, what would you like them to say about you?

In what ways can you show the world that you love Jesus this week?

How can you demonstrate your love to other believers on a daily basis?

Why is it important to be known as a person who loves others? Explain.

What kind of reputation do you have?

What areas of your life do you need to change in order to have a solid, godly reputation?

When Paul wrote this letter, he’d been hearing a lot about Philemon and the others—in a good way. People had noticed Philemon and his friends and commented on their love and faith. They had a reputation that spoke volumes about the God they served.

Paul was undoubtedly pleased, but just think about how pleased God must have been. Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and the others in the church were actively living out their faith, and it was evident in the way they loved others. Their actions were screaming to the world, “I belong to Jesus!”

What are your actions saying about you? Remember that people are talking, so why not give them something good to talk about? Live out your faith every day and let His love be seen in the way you love those around you.

What You See Is What You Get

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Read Colossians 3:12-14.

How many Christians can honestly examine the way they live their lives and boldly promise that what you see on Sunday really is what you get the rest of the week?

My point? It’s easy to look, act, and sound like a believer at church. You are surrounded by people who are seeking God, worshiping Him, and encouraging you to be like Him. However, it’s a different story on Monday. The halls at school are filled with students who couldn’t care less about honoring God or living by biblical principles.

In today’s Scripture passage, Paul reminded Christians of some amazing truths: You have been chosen by God. He loves you. He has made you holy. Let that sink in.

You have been chosen, loved, and made holy by the God of the universe. That should blow your mind! Because of those truths, your actions should scream to the world, “I belong to Jesus!” Paul gives you the battle cry when he lists the character traits that should be evident in every area of your life: forgiveness, love, patience, gentleness, and humility. Sound easy? No, but it is completely possible.

Those character traits don’t happen overnight! You have to make a deliberate choice to spend time with God, to choose obedience, and to care about the things He cares about. Eventually, those character traits become a part of who you are. Then, you can boldly say, “What you see is what you get.”

Love Like Jesus

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Love is a word that often gets overused. Because of that, its definition has become vague and almost meaningless.

Yet, Scripture is crystal clear on how we show love. If we want to know what real love looks like, we only have to look to Jesus.

Read John 15:11-13. Focus on verse 12.

Why does Jesus command His followers to love one another? Is it just an arbitrary rule that we need to follow, or is it deeply rooted in God’s character? Explain.

According to Jesus, what is the greatest form of love we can engage in?

What is particularly hard about the love to which Jesus calls us? Why?

What does it mean to lay down your life for others?

Have you had opportunities to lay down your life for others this week? Have you embraced them or turned your back on them?

What prevents you from showing this kind of love for others? Why?

The phrase “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is becoming a popular line in Christian circles. That phrase means all of your knowledge about God is irrelevant if you don’t show a deep concern or love for those around you. Hopefully you have realized this week that loving God and loving others are two sides of the same coin. One cannot be easily separated from the other. God wants us to love people the same way that He does: by sacrificing ourselves for their benefit and by thinking more about their needs than our own. The question is, do you?

Let Your Love Reflect His

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Do you love pizza? Do you love peanut butter? Do you love camp? Do you love music? Do you love your parents? But can you actually put pizza, music, parents, and peanut butter in the same category?

Our society has only a vague idea of the notion of love. We apply it to everything from our new iPod^® to our grandparents. In the case of Scripture, though, God has an incredibly specific portrait of love: God sent His Son into the world to die on our behalf.

Read 1 John 4:7-12, then read verse 7 again.

According to these verses, from where does the idea of love come?

If true love comes from God, what are its elements?

What do these verses teach you about how much God loves you?

What does it mean to say that God is love?

Does God only love lovable people? Why or why not?

How might this have an effect on how you treat those around you?

What opportunities will you take this week to show real love to those who are not particularly lovable?

Last week, I asked how you could identify a Christian. It’s not by our compelling preaching, our worship, or our programs. While all of these things can be useful tools, the real indicator of what we really believe is how we treat one another. That means that you are respectful, caring, self-sacrificing, and humble—and not just at church or when you think someone is watching. What do your actions tell others about God? Hopefully your actions and the way you treat others shows the world a little about the God you believe in, the God who is love.

Love Is A Command

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Believe it or not, Jesus’ commands are pretty easy to summarize: Love God and love others. These are not separate things. Loving God means obeying Him. It means living as He created us to live. A necessary part of this is showing love toward others, because that’s exactly what God does! He loves people. But while the Christian message is easy to summarize, it is far harder to live out in the real world.

Read 1 John 3:21-24. Ponder verse 23.

Does verse 22 mean that God will just give me anything I want? What might “because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight” have to do with our receiving what we ask?

Why is it important that Jesus commands us to love others?

What are the major roadblocks you face in loving and trusting God?

What are the roadblocks you face in loving those around you?

We know that God lives in us by His Spirit. How do we know the Spirit lives in us? (See Gal. 5:22-23.)

How much of your life is a reflection of the fruit of the spirit? Are you loving, joyful, kind, and so forth?

It is difficult to take people seriously when they pretend that it is easy to love God and love others. It is far easier to talk about it than to do it. This does not give us an excuse though. Loving God and loving others is the absolute heart of the Christian life; it’s not just a nice idea or a pretty thought. It is a command of Christ to those who follow Him.

The closer we are to God, though, the easier it gets to see the world—and the people in it—the way that He does and begin to love them as we’re commanded. Getting close to God means spending time with Him. It means digging into Scripture. It means praying and listening and waiting. Draw close to God and ask Him to give you His eyes and open your heart. You may just be surprised at the love you begin to feel for others in this world!

Love Others

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Even when you’re very excited, it’s not uncommon to lose that excitement after awhile. As time progresses, we can get fidgety and bored.

Unfortunately, far too many of us experience this in our relationship with God. After the “newness” wears off, it’s hard to maintain the same level of excitement.

Today’s passage is an important reminder and warning: do not lose sight of the magnitude of God’s gift to you.

Read 1 John 3:13-15, thinking carefully about verse 14.

Why, according to John, should we expect the world to hate us?

When have you experienced the world’s hatred? Explain.

According to these verses, how do we know “we have passed from death to life”?

What does John say about those who do not love?

Has your love toward others grown cold? Why or why not?

Many Christians think of salvation in terms of a one-time experience. We pray a prayer, say the magic words, and God gives us salvation. Then, we think we just stick that insurance policy in our back pocket and live however we want to.

Unfortunately for such people, the Bible presents a very different message. Christians are continually reminded and warned of their need to be attentive to the gift of salvation that we have through Jesus. Today’s passage says that we who have a relationship with Christ have passed from death to life—and a good indicator of our salvation is the love we have for others. It’s time to take a hard look at yourself. What does the way you love others say about your relationship with Christ?

Do You Love Other Believers

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There is no single verse in the whole Bible that troubles me more than when Jesus says that if we love Him, we will obey what He commands (John 14:15). It presents a stark and troubling reality: it does not matter one bit what I say about how much I love God. What really matters is my obedience.

Today’s passage makes one very important element of obedience clear: we are to love other believers.

Read 1 John 3:7-12. Go back and focus on verse 10.

What principle is at work in verse 9? If you had to summarize that verse for another person, what would you say?

According to this passage, it should be as plain as day who is a child of God and who is not a child of God. What are some examples of things that are “right” in God’s eyes?

What are the two “sides” that John presents in this passage?

If you had to take a long hard look at your actions, whose side are you on? What do your actions show?

If you had to list the loving things you have done for your fellow Christians recently, what would those be?

Anyone who claims to be a Christian—a follower of Jesus—must walk in the way that He did. That means that our lives look like His. That we care about the things He cares about and do the things He thinks are important. That’s what being a follower is.

In this passage, we’re called to holiness in the form of love. That’s a key theme in Scripture: God is looking for followers who will obey Him. The Scripture makes it clear: the person who really belongs to God does what is right. And according to Scripture, loving your fellow Christian is the right thing to do.

What Does Your Life Say

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What identifies Christians? What adjective would most people use to describe Christians? Good? Disagreeable? Are we known as hypocrites? How would most people describe our churches?

Let’s flip the question a bit. How did Jesus want His followers to be identified? According to John 13:33-35, Jesus wanted His followers to be identified by their—wait for it—love.

After that last meal with His disciples, He gave them a new command: love one another. Easy enough, right? The next sentence, however, raises the bar: “Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” That is a far more specific definition of love than we are used to. The kind of love Jesus calls His followers to is self-sacrificing and considers the other person first. Does that describe how you love others?

This week’s devotions are focused on love. We live in an incredibly self-centered, decadent, and arrogant society. Self-sacrificing love is not a virtue that often makes its way into the news. What is worse is that the kind of love Jesus has called His followers to is often not clearly apparent in our churches—or the lives of those who call themselves believers.

Jesus wants us to love the way that He does. It’s how the world will know we belong to Him. Is that kind of love apparent in your life?

Brag A Little

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I had been practicing and thought my ping-pong skills were pretty impressive. So, when my friend challenged me to a game, I asked, “Do you really think you can handle it?” That day, I learned not to brag about my ping-pong skills. My friend never told me he was a ping-pong master!

As you read Galatians 6:11-16, notice what Paul said of himself in verse 14.

God gave the Jews the sign of circumcision as an outward sign of their covenant with Him. Why do you think the Jews would boast in that outward sign? What was the problem with their boasting?

What did Paul mean when he said that “circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing” (v. 15)?

Why do you think Paul was so emphatic about only boasting in the cross of Christ (v. 14)?

What do you think boasting in the cross of Christ sounds like? What would it look like if you did it?

Do you know anyone who always boasts in Christ rather than him or herself?

How quick are you to talk about Christ? Where are you when you are likely to talk about Christ?

Where are you when you tend to shut up about Christ?

What do you brag about most often? Some of us are always ready to brag about ourselves, to push ourselves forward, to make ourselves sound important. Not Paul. Instead, he wanted to brag about the cross of Christ. So should we. As believers, we should always be ready to brag on the One who is the Creator of the world, the Savior of all humanity. Today, ask God to fill your heart with His wonder and cause you to think and talk of Him in your conversations.

Sow and Reap

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When a farmer plants corn, he doesn’t harvest wheat. You can only harvest what you’ve actually planted. And believe it or not, that principle holds true for our spiritual lives as well.

Read Galatians 6:6-10, paying particular attention to verse 7.

Sowing refers to planting seeds. Reaping refers to harvesting the resulting food. What are some good seeds you are planting with how you live your life? What harvest do you think you will reap from those seeds?

What are some bad seeds you’re planting? What harvest do you see yourself reaping from those?

Why do you think Christians sometimes “get tired of doing good” (v. 9)?

What are some seeds you should be planting that you are not?

What are some seeds you need to quit planting?

We like to think of God as a loving Father who wants us to be happy, healthy, and wealthy, but that’s not the total picture of God. He gives us freedom to act, but our actions always have consequences. We may not suffer immediately for breaking one of God’s commandments. However, in the long run, every one of us will experience the consequences of the choices we’ve made.

You can choose to sin—even as a believer—and think it doesn’t matter or that you’re getting away with it. But your sinful choices have consequences. Spend some time today talking with God about the choices you’re making. If you need to, ask for His forgiveness. Ask Him what good seed you need to be planting. Determine to do all He shows you.

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I know you miss camp. Since you can't be with us, we want to bring a little Camp Ridgecrest to you each week. Here you will find weekly devotions to remind you of what you learned about God; news, pictures, and videos of camp as we make improvements or just do something ridiculous; and even some posts from the road as we travel to see you and your friends! We will update you a few times a week, so check back often!
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