Devotions this week based on Sunday’s Message: The Permanence of Love! (LISTEN HERE)
Do you want to be the G.O.A.T. (The Greatest Of All Time)?
In sports, people are identified as the “GOAT”, or the greatest of all time. Quarterback Tom Brady falls into that discussion along with basketball’s Michael Jordan.
We can have fun with our friends debating who in our arenas of interest deserve the designation as “The GOAT.” It’s a pretty hard designation to achieve and perhaps also to designate because objective statistics may not be the only way to determine if someone is the greatest.
But do you want to be the GOAT?
To be the GOAT, you have be great. To be great, you have to do what is great!
So what is that?
When Jesus was asked the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So greatness comes when we are attached to THE Greatest! Worked by God’s Spirit, our hearts are led to “fear, love and trust in God above all things.” The result? We are able to love God with all our being. We love because he first loved us.
The Apostle Paul recognized the connection between greatness and love. Of all that exists on this world is love. He wrote, “Now these three remain, “Faith, hope, and love” but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Why would love be the greatest? At the center of our faith is the love God has for us that led him to send his Son Jesus to this world. Without God’s love, there is no object to our faith…so one might say, “Love is greater than faith because faith needs love to exist.”
God’s love is the reason we have hope. Without God’s love for us in Christ through whom he secures and promises and gives eternal life, we have no hope. So love is greater than hope.
So if we want to be great before God, we simply respond as the Spirit enables us to love God with all our being.
If we want to be great with others, LOVE. Remember love never loses. If “to love” is our default and with God’s help we are walking in the way of love, you can never lose when you love.
1 Corinthians 13:7-8 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
People may not respond to your love with gratitude or appreciation, but when our default is to love, remember love will always prevail…even if the person doesn’t recognize it.
Always remember, “We love because he first loved us.” Without the greatness of God’s love we will never be able to express that love to others. And yet, when we express that love to others, we are simply being reflecting the great love God has for us.
Be the GOAT! Love God and love people!
Apply: What gets in the way of consistently loving people in you workplace, at school or in your neighborhood?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for being the greatest of all time and making us great by empowering us to love you and love others! AMEN.