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You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1470. Today's Devo is called Loving Others. Hey there! We're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time.
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That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a 5-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Hello everyone, my name is Lauren Alessi. I have been your host for this week, and if you liked today's episode or any of, any of the episodes in today's podcast in today's week, please go back, please comment, please leave a comment. I was— I just learned about Spotify comments because I'm like the least techie person ever, and I was able to read what you guys were saying and Thank you so much for congratulating me on my engagement. Thank you so much for your kind words. It was just so nice to see who's listening, who really loves the podcast, um, and just even your notes. You're like, hey, can we talk about this? Can we talk more about this? It makes the podcast just really feel like one big family and one big community. We love learning about who is listening and what you guys have to say, so please feel free to drop a comment., on this episode, any other episode, we'd love to hear from you. So yesterday we talked about loving ourselves. Uh, today we're talking about loving others, an i'm going to read out of 1 John 4:11 in the ESV, and it says this Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Let's think about John 3:16. It says, for if God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, that so whoever should believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And then, so that says that, and then in 1 Jogn 4:11 it says, beloved, if God so loved us, which we know he did because john 3:16, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And this can be challenging. I'm gonna laugh at myself right now because like I said, the idea of just like showing love and showing grace Um, my fiancé is much better at this than I am. He's just so kind and he's just so nice to people, and I'm like not patient, and I'm not kind, and I'm not like that. And I may— I don't know how I come off on this podcast, but to be honest, like, this is challenging me right now because maybe we look one way in church and we look like a Christian, but then we go to the grocery store and we don't. I've got like my— I could speak for myself. I've got my game face on. I'm I'm here to get my groceries, I'm here to get my bananas, and I'm here to get out, and I don't want anybody to bother me. And I don't want to go as like so extreme as to say like I'm not loving others around me, but do I have a godly spirit on me? Am I showing a spirit of God's love on me?
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I don't know, because if I constantly have my game face on, I don't know that that's exemplifying God's love. And again, I think that's a terrible example because it's not like it's an opportunity to show God's love, but maybe making eye contact, maybe saying hi, maybe saying thank you, and we hear that a lot, and that may sound cliché, but again, just exemplifying godliness, exemplifying holiness is essentially, yes, exemplifying God's love. So if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And I just want to ask, what does this look like for you? What does this look like— forget the grocery store— in your family? Are there family members you need to learn to love again? And if there's a boundary there, there's a boundary, I understand. But are there family members that you need to really learn to extend love and grace to? Let's say there's a boundary. Can you love them with the boundary there and ask for forgiveness? Ask the Lord to show you how to love them even with the boundary there. Is there love and grace you need to extend to friends that you don't know how to repair a broken relationship? Maybe it's also an ex. Maybe it's somebody who's not in your life anymore. Maybe it's a broken relationship that was so bad you don't know how to overcome it. Ask God, Lord, show me, how do I show them love? How do I show them grace? How do I extend forgiveness? And it's not that you have to be constantly in their life, asking for love, asking for grace, asking for forgiveness, because there needs to be a boundary. But Lord, I can't walk around with unforgiveness, with no love in my heart, because Lord, if you loved us, we also ought to love one another. So just as God loved us first, we are invited, and we need to remember to learn to love others. And it's not that we master that because we're Christians, Ask God right now, Lord, show me how to love others. What does that look like? From something as small as being in the grocery store to something as big as learning to love my ex who really hurt me. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you so much, Lord, again that you understand that we are human and maybe something as simple as showing love, Lord, we need help on, God. And Lord, I just pray right now, Lord, come alongside of us and any person listening to this, Lord, that doesn't know how to show love, God, or needs help learning how to show love in a wise way. God, come alongside of us, Lord. Show us how to love. Show us how to love again, maybe. And God, just show us how to do that with wisdom, with grace, with forgiveness. And Lord, show us, Lord, because you loved first, we need to love others. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So there you have it, your 5-minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
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We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now.
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Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong but your love for Jesus is stronger.
