Love at Workنموونە

Begin in Prayer

Devotional - Becoming a Person of Love

The thought of applying today’s passage might seem intimidating. When I evaluate my own ability to love others, I often fall woefully short. Do I not know God? (v.8) If I’m afraid, does that mean I’m totally missing the mark? (v.18) If I lose my temper at work, does that mean I'm in the dark? No.

Let’s take a deep breath and reexamine 1 John 4:15-16 (NIV). “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” Love begins with God. He loved first. His love fills the gap between our best intentions and our failures to love well. Becoming a person of love is a lifelong process, but there are some critical steps.

Receiving God’s love is the first practice we must develop in becoming a person of love. We cannot reflect love back to him or into the world without receiving it ourselves. It is this beautiful mystery that if we learn to take on a posture of receiving God’s love, it will flow through us to the people around us. Think about that for a minute. God desires and has made it possible for us to be a conduit of divine love. And not just at home, or with our friends, or at church, but also to the people we work with, work for, and do business with.

But how do we do that? Where do we start?

The good news is that you have already begun. You are taking time to engage your mind with God’s word. But the old adage is true, "The longest journey you will ever take is the 18 inches from your head to your heart." Taking that journey requires stillness and silence.

• Start small.
• Commit to a time and place for this practice.
• Set a timer for five minutes of quiet, prayerful reflection. (Add a couple of minutes each week.)
• Ponder a short portion of scripture like “God is love,” or “Perfect love drives out fear.”
• Breathe deeply.
• When your timer goes off, start your normal devotional practice.

Finally, be comforted in the fact that we are forgetful people. Depending on the translation, the Bible says to remember over 230 times. So, no matter how well the above suggestions go, consider finding something visible and tactile that reminds you of God’s love throughout the day. A post-it, a photo, an artifact that calls you back to the reality of being God’s beloved child.

Closing Prayer

God, I desperately want to be a person who loves you and others well, but I can’t do it simply by trying harder. Help me to find a rhythm of sitting in your presence and the extravagance of your love. I open my heart to you and invite you to do whatever you need to do in me so that I might reflect you to my family, friends, and people I work with. Amen.