Fruit Of The Spirit Sports Devotional Sample

Leader's Guide Lesson 2: Love

Theme:

We are to love others as God loves us, not expecting anything in return. 

Coaches' Notes: 

Loving others can be hard sometimes. Every father, mother, spouse, brother, sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, and friend knows this. This is why to love others, as God loves us and calls us to love Him and others, requires God’s help.

How does God love us? Unconditionally. In the Bible God repeatedly tells us that He loves us unconditionally:

• “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3.16).

• “God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8).

The question becomes what do we do with that love? The first lesson gives us the answer — we accept it by accepting the Father’s Son, Jesus, as our Savior and Lord. We also love others in this same way. Why? Because God loves others the same way He loves us. If God can overlook our flaws and imperfections, then we need to overlook others’ flaws and imperfections.

Think about it from a teammate's perspective. What if a teammate constantly pointed out flaws in players? You get a hit, but she makes fun of how you ran too fast. You catch a pass, but he makes fun of how you ran out of bounds instead of initiating contact with the defensive player. No matter what you did, the teammate is rude and unkind. Is that a good teammate? Is that a loving teammate? What about a teammate who always encourages others? Which teammates would you rather have? Being loving makes a difference. It impacts others. It inspires others to give their all. It changes others.

Loving unconditionally, then, is critical to living out our Christian faith, because (1) God loves us unconditionally, and (2) loving others in this way makes a big difference. If this is true, why would we possibly love any other way?

Discussion Questions: 

1.) When the Bible says God loves us unconditionally, what does that mean? Read John 3.16 and Romans 5.8 for clues.

2.) Why should we love others unconditionally?

Discussion: 

Think about what you love. A particular food? A sport? A video game? A subject in school? Your family? I love smoking meats. I love coaching baseball and fast-pitch softball. I love reading. I love watching the Dallas Cowboys. I love my wife and my three kids.

Certainly, I don’t love smoking meat as much as I love my family. So what kind of love is Paul speaking of when he says “the fruit of the Spirit is love”? Fruit of the Spirit means fruit coming only from God. Is this the type of love that only comes from God, meaning we can’t love without the Spirit of God living inside of us? We can love food, activities, and family without God guiding us to do so. Almost everyone, whatever their beliefs, loves something or someone. But the love that comes from the Spirit of God is different in at least two ways.

First, it is unconditional. What is unconditional love? It is love that expects nothing in return. It puts the other person’s interests above ours. It takes care of others even if they will never give something in return, and maybe not even appreciate what you’ve done. That’s the unconditional love the Bible speaks of here.

Second, love that comes from God is, not surprisingly, the way God loves us. Consider His love:

• “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3.16).

• “God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8).

The result of receiving this love from God is to then love others that way: We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). When we love others in this way, it should look different to someone who does not have the Spirit of God in them. Why? Because we’re not loving to get something in return, or because we have to, but because God first loved us in this same way. That’s unconditional love! So who needs your unconditional love today?