PURSUE Love

READY:

“You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” -Matthew 5:43-44

SET:

James 3:9 says, “With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness”. While we may never fully understand what it means, we can see that we bear the image of God. All of us. When God decided to make man, it was according to His Own likeness.

Dr. Martin Luther King saw this in his fellow men and women. All of them. Despite the discrimination and racism that he saw and experienced personally, he chose to see the people he was called to serve in the likeness of God. With that, he chose to love, even those who hated him.

Dr. King did not just talk of the love that God has for us and that we should have for our fellow man. He lived it. He lived out love. Read that Matthew verse again. Jesus told us to love our enemies. He told us to pray for those who persecute us. The life Dr. King lived epitomized these thoughts. He boycotted… he did sit-ins… he marched, all along with many others. He ended up having fire hoses turned on him and was arrested multiple times. But he kept going back to do it again.

Why? Because he loved with his life. When we look at our Savior Jesus Christ and we consider the life of action and love of Dr. Martin Luther King, we should see that living out love as he did can change so much. It set a country in a new direction.

There is still a long way to go. There may be people out there who would consider you an enemy, based on something you believe or the way that you look. We are all broken people, after all, and loving other broken people is difficult. Christ called us to love anyway.

Take some time today and read some of Dr. King’s words and read about what he did. Ponder what love should look like, and let us all hear clearly the words of Dr. Martin Luther King himself:

“Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.”

GO:

1. What about the life of Dr. King stands out to you?

2. What can you do to live out love to those who are different from you?

WORKOUT:

Genesis 1:27

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Romans 5:8

OVERTIME:

“Father, we are created in Your image. When we fell in the Garden, You sent Your Own Son to save us, even those who considered Him an enemy. Help me to live out love however I can. May you get the glory. In Christ’s name, amen.”

Mark Jones

Mark Jones has been a member of FCA staff in central Maine. He was raised by in a Christian family but walked away from his faith once he went to college. In 2003, he rededicated his walk with Jesus. In 2014, he was called to join staff, working with colleges in the area. Mark is married to Denise, and is the father of Isaac, Hadassah, and Toby.

On top of serving on field staff with FCA, Mark really enjoys writing Daily Impact Play devotionals. It gives him the chance to write about how sports can remind us of the things of God. He hopes that through the devotionals, coaches and athletes are challenged to walk closer with Christ and encouraged to keep moving forward on that walk.