Compassion: 30 Days of HeartworkSample

Made To Love

HEART //  

We were created for a purpose – to follow God’s example and walk in the way of love as sons and daughters of God. As we walk in this way, God grows us. Just like children who start out making a lot of mistakes, we will fumble and fail. But as we stick by our Father, we learn more of His sacrificial love for us – He gave His only son to save us! And out of our understanding of this generous offering, we can learn to love sacrificially like Him. When we allow Him to work through us, we have new eyes to see His beautiful Kingdom and to love deeper. Saint Augustine once said, “a Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.” When we trust God, we allow the Holy Spirit to think, love, speak, and help through us. And as Christians, that’s where we learn who we really are. We learn as a child learns, day after day with our loving, sacrificial Father.

But loving like God can be hard. It’s risky – we can feel hurt or disappointed when we lovingly sacrifice ourselves on behalf of others and don’t receive that same love in return. Wouldn’t it be great if we experienced that beautiful picture of growing to love like the Lord and never ran into bumps in the road? But, like kids do, we fall down. 

Getting hurt or feeling disappointed can be heartbreaking. But we have the ultimate example of a God whose heart broke as He sacrificed His son to love people. He saved the world! Learning to love like God is worth it. Even when sacrificially loving is hard, the truth is still true... we are children of the King, destined for great power and great responsibility. We have the honor of “walking in the way of love” with Love Himself. As we learn more about who we are in Christ this week, let’s keep this reminder of hope before us. 

WORK //

We are dearly loved children because Christ gave Himself up for us. God gives us His Spirit to help us walk in the way of love... a perfect way that we can walk only when we allow God to be the strength of our lives. In the past week you have begun to let go of distractions but when we let go of something negative, we must replace it with something positive. In the areas that you have let go, ask God to fill your heart with His perfect love and make you aware of any opportunities to see that love in action this week. 

For this week, make a list of the social media (Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook) you’re on and any other media (shows, video games, etc.) that takes up your time. This week you’re invited to take a break. No (non-essential) posting, checking, playing, or watching. We want you to think about a couple of things:

1. How addicted are you? How often do you “feel like” checking some social media to see what people are up to, tell everyone what you’re doing/thinking/feeling, or see how many “likes” you have? How tortured do you feel that you won’t be catching up on your favorite shows or playing your video games?

2. If you are “addicted,” how much of your identity may be coming from this media? Is it all your friends talk about or can you still be friends and have great conversation about other things? Do you feel “less” because you don’t know how many “likes” you have? 

Be encouraged! God loves you regardless of how many followers, “likes,” or retweets you have. Take some time to look up this week. To see others, to live in the real world a bit more! We know you’ll find a few extra special moments that, if you had your eyes on a screen, may have passed you by.