Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Ephesians 5: 1-2(MSG)
Comment
I’m really enjoying reading the Bible in different translations. What caught my attention with this passage from The Message was the description of loving like Jesus: ‘not cautious but extravagant.’
Loving like Jesus means giving everything of ourselves without expecting anything back. God wants us to love generously, lavishly, giving everything of ourselves without holding back.
This REALLY challenges me because at the moment I don’t think I’ve got much to give. I’m exhausted, stressed and juggling too many things. As I write I can add feelings of guilt on top!
Do you ever feel like that?
So prayerfully I listened to Jesus. I felt him say: ‘just do your best and leave the rest with me’. So I’ve decided to go forward, taking the focus off me and my feelings of inadequacy, and just love my husband in the best way I can. That’s my kind of extravagant loving right now.
This week, read the passage over again and then pause, asking Jesus prayerfully to show you how you can love your husband or wife extravagantly. Then do it.
Prayer (as a couple)
Dear Father God, thank you for Jesus and his extravagant love. Thank you that he gives everything and shows us the way to love one another. Please help us this week to love each other extravagantly, whatever that might look like in practice. Help us to give everything we can to each other, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Prayer (for others)
Dear Father God, we pray for… and …. We ask that they would love one another, giving everything without expecting anything back, or without holding back. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Final Quote
“There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes – seize it, don’t miss it.” Max Lucado
