The Bible says Love is a Skill

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (NLT)

Love is a skill that can be learned. In other words, it's something you can get good at and that means you get better at love by practicing love. There is no time better than the Christmas season to practice loving others.

You may think you're a good lover, but God wants you to become a great lover, a skilled lover, a master lover. Yet, most people never learn how to love. You can become an expert at relationships.

Wouldn't you like to become known as a person of extraordinary love? When people speak of you they might say: "He doesn't care who you are or what you look like." "She doesn't care where you've been or what you've done or where you're from."

The only way you get skilled at something is to practice. You do it over and over. The first time you do it, it feels awkward, but the more you do it, the better you become.

The same is true with love (1 John 4:7). Let's practice loving each other. As the Bible says, "Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all" (1 Timothy 4:15 HCSB).

Rick Warren

Love is an Action

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

The baby Jesus shows us that love is something you do. You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Do you really love someone? Let's see how you act toward that person.

Love is more than attraction and more than arousal. It's also more than sentimentality, like so many of today's songs suggest. By this standard, is love dead when the emotion is gone? No, not at all. Because love is an action; love is a behavior.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can't command an emotion. If I told you "Be sad!" right now, you couldn't be sad on cue. Just like an actor, you can fake it, but you're not wired for your emotions to change on command. Have you ever told a little kid, "Be happy!" I'm trying, daddy!

If love were just an emotion, then God couldn't command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, "Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions" (1 John 3:18 NLT). We can talk a good act: "I love people." But do we really love them? Do you really love them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.

Rick Warren

Love Is a Choice

... That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)

The birth of Jesus reflects the truth that love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.

Today we've bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us; it's not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, "I fell in love," as if love is some kind of a ditch. It's like I'm walking along one day and bam! - I fell in love. I couldn't help myself.

But I have to tell you the truth - that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.

There's no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.

You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.

And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't force you to love anyone.

Rick Warren

We Love Because God Loves Us

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)

This Christmas season is a good time to remember that the reason God wants us to love is because he is love, and he created us to be like him - to love. The only reason we're able to love is because God loves us: "Love comes from God ... because God is love" (1 John 4:7-8 NIV).

We were created in God's image to do two things on earth: Learn to love God and learn to love other people; life is all about love.

But love all started with God. He loved us first and that gives us the ability to love others (1 John 4:19). The only reason you can love God or love anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. He showed that love by creating you. He showed that love by everything you have in life; it's all a gift of God's love.

In order to love others and to become great lovers, we first need to understand and feel how much God loves us. We don't want to just talk about love, read about love, or discuss about love; our need is to experience the love of God.

We need to reach a day when we finally, fully understand how God loves us completely and unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that we cannot make God stop loving us.

Once we're secure inside God's unconditional love, we'll start cutting people a lot of slack. We won't be as angry as we've been. We'll be more patient. We'll be more forgiving. We'll be more merciful. We'll give others grace.

But you cannot give to others what you have not received yourself, and so my hope is that, as you learn how much God loves you, you'll also let him heal your heart so that his love can flow freely through you. It's impossible to love others until you really feel loved yourself.

Rick Warren

Share your Jesus-deposit this Christmas

"You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers. " I Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV)

Think of it this way: the Great Commission is so vast, and your role is so critical, that God needs you to be in thousands of places at once. Now, you know that's humanly impossible and, as for the supernatural, God's not likely to defy his laws of nature to drop you into several different places at one time.

But God's strategy is so simple we might call it common sense.

He puts a Jesus-deposit in you, and then guides you with his supernatural strength to just the right places at just the right time to meet just the right people so you can teach them how to become living, breathing examples of Jesus.

God places Jesus-life in you, and then you tell and teach others so they can receive Jesus-life from God also. And then, they tell and teach others, who tell and teach others, who tell and teach others. In this sense, you're now simultaneously all over the globe because "Christ in you" is now "Christ in others."

This is how the early church grew. The first Jesus-ones received the deposit of the Holy Spirit and then became models to all the believers-their faith in God becoming known everywhere (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8). These were ordinary people, passing on the message of Jesus-life to the people around them and then to the people beyond their own provinces.

Jon Walker

Yoked Companions of Compassion

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

Most translations of Matthew 11:28-30 refer to the easy "yoke" of Jesus-"Take my yoke upon you..." But Eugene Peterson's paraphrase above captures the spirit of Jesus' teaching.

Jesus is looking for companions of compassion. Compassionate friends who will love others in the same way Jesus loves us. Jesus wants us to journey with him, get to know him, not run off to do things for him while we ignore him.

"Aren't you tired and burned out on all that religious stuff, anyway?" Jesus, in a sense, asks. "Look, come walk with me, and I'll help you get back your life, your real purpose. And even though it'll require some hard-very hard-work, you'll be energized by it because you'll be living a life of abundance. You'll be doing exactly what our Father created you to do, and more importantly, you'll be exactly who I want you to be."

There's still a chance Jesus may ask you to be a yoked-up plow-horse in service to God, but Jesus is more likely asking you to join his school of Christ as a student taking on the teacher's yoke.

This Christmas you can become a companion of compassion with Christ.

Jesus says, "Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29-30 NLT).


Jon Walker

Generosity Builds Community

"Your generosity ... not only provides for the needs of God's people, but also produces prayers of thanksgiving to God." (2 Corinthians 9:12)

When we're generous with each other, we thank God for each other and we're drawn closer to each other.

One of my friends learned the connection between generosity and community when one of his neighbors came by to borrow a ladder. A few weeks later, my friend discovered his neighbor already had a ladder, but the neighbor borrowed one as a way of building a relationship.

My friend said, "When my neighbor borrowed my stuff, it made me feel like I was needed, and I liked that feeling. Now I do the same thing with other neighbors. For instance, my neighbor, Roger, has a Shop Vac, and I borrow it every Friday to clean my car. Roger even leaves it out for me on Fridays. I told Roger the other day that I could buy my own Shop Vac, but I liked the interaction with him. He told me not to buy one because he liked the interaction, too."

The Bible says, "Your heart will be wherever your treasure is." (Matthew 6:21) Wherever I put my time, my money, my effort, my energy, wherever I invest myself - that's what's going to attract me.

For some of you, your heart may be in your home. That's where you're putting your time, your money, and your energy - fixing it up. Or your heart may be in your work. That's where you're putting your time, your money and your energy. Or it may be in a hobby. That's where you're putting your time, your money and your energy. Wherever your treasure is, your heart's going to be there.

So, when I'm generous with you or with the poor or with anybody, that's where my heart tends to go. And every time I give to God, it draws my heart closer to God, and every time I give to you, it draws my heart closer to you. Giving or generosity creates community.

The first Christians were famous for their generosity. "The community of believers... shared everything in common." (Acts 4: 32) They were a family; they shared it all: 'What's mine is yours, and you can share it with me.' It was voluntary. Christianity says, "What's mine is yours and you can share it with me."

When you're a parent, and you have little kids in your home, you enjoy watching them share with each other? When you see that your kids are unselfish, you're very happy with that.

And God is the same way.

When God looks down on us and He sees us being generous with each other He says, "That's My boy! That's My girl! They're doing what I want them to do." Because God is generous, and He wants us to become like Him.

Rick Warren

Friday December 04 2009 12:00 AM Molded into Godly Character

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 (NIV)

Your character is essentially the sum of your habits; it is how you habitually act. The Bible says, "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24 NIV).

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God's Word provides the truth we need to grow, God's people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment to practice Christlikeness.

If you study and apply God's Word, connect regularly with other believers, and learn to trust God in difficult circumstances, I guarantee you will become more like Jesus.

Many people assume all that is needed for spiritual growth is Bible study and prayer. But some issues in life will never be changed by Bible study or prayer alone. God uses people. He usually prefers to work through people rather than perform miracles, so that we will depend on each other for fellowship. He wants us to grow together.

In many religions, the people considered to be the most spiritually mature and holy are those who isolate themselves from others in mountaintop monasteries, uninfected by contact with other people.

But this is a gross misunderstanding. Spiritual maturity is not a solitary, individual pursuit!

You cannot grow to Christlikeness in isolation. You must be around other people and interact with them. You need to be a part of a church and community.

Why? Because true spiritual maturity is all about learning to love like Jesus, and you can't practice being like Jesus without being in relationship with other people.

Remember that during this Christmas season, when your family or friends challenge your ability to respond like Jesus!!

Remember, it's all about love - loving God and loving others.

Rick Warren

Thursday December 03 2009 12:00 AM Be a people-builder this Christmas

In response to all he has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other and in doing good. Hebrews 10:24 (TLB)

There's a price tag for being a people-builder: It requires unselfishness.

But why should we do it? "In response to all he has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other and in doing good." (Hebrews 10:24, TLB)

At some point, the Romans confuse the word "cristos" with "crestos." Cristos means Christ; Crestos, in Latin, means kindness. In a roundabout way, that confusion can teach us something: Christians should be the kindest of all people.

I want to give you an objective -- and that is to be a people-builder not just for this holiday season, but for the rest of your life. Begin by writing down the name of one person you want to help build up, then stop and pray.

Ask God to show you that person's strengths. We always build on our strengths, not on our weaknesses. Write down whatever strengths you've seen in him or her in the past.

Then tell that person, "I've been thinking about you because I really care about you. I wanted to share with you- from my viewpoint- the strengths I see in your life because those strengths determine what God wants us to do in our lives."

Imagine the impact you could have if you would commit yourself to being a people-builder; if you determined to bring out the best in everyone you know; to help people grow and to become what God made them to be.

Rick Warren

Thursday November 19 2009 1:07 AM Servants Serve with What They Have

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)

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Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants don't make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better circumstances. Servants never say, "One of these days" or "When the time is right." They just do what needs to be done.

The Bible says, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done" (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).

God expects you to do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intention.

One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this myth by making "excellence" an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved.

You may have heard it said, "If it can't be done with excellence, don't do it." Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it — that's how we learn.

At Saddleback Church, we practice the "good enough" principle: It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.

Rick Warren