Wednesday, October 28, 2015

FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Gentle in Our Time”

Several years ago, a book blasted into the Christian market all about love languages.  The idea is that just like people talk in different languages based on where they’re from, people also communicate love in different ways.  This is influenced by many things, including personality and upbringing.

Take a second and think about your love language as a person, but also think about how your family communicates love.  In the home I grew up in, teasing and gift-giving were our big love languages for each other.  In my home now, it’s a lot of affirmation, snuggling, and serving each other.

What about you?  Talk about your thoughts on your family’s love language.  How do you communicate or show one another the love you have? 

Knowing how someone else shows love can help us better understand them and better love them.  Some people walking into my childhood home might have thought we were pretty mean people with some of our sarcastic comments to each other if they didn't know teasing was our love language.

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.  In this passage, one of the things Paul wants us to know and experience is the love Jesus has for us.  The love of God is so HUGE, it’s pretty incomprehensible!  But Paul wants us to stretch ourselves to see if we can maybe just slightly begin to grasp how wide and long and high and deep His love is.  The more we understand Jesus’ love, the more we’re able to experience it.  And the more we are able to return to Him.

Do you notice how Paul ends this passage in worship?  He’s not done with the letter—we’re just at the halfway point.  Yet he takes time here, right in the middle of it all, to give glory to God.  Worship is a wonderful way to show love to our Father.  Verbal praise like singing or testimonies is probably the most common way, but we can also show our love for the Lord in other ways, like service, giving, helping, sharing the gospel, and even just loving on other people.

How about your family?  How do you experience the love of God?  Is it only in church on Sundays, or do you experience his love throughout the week together?  

How do you love on God as a family?  Talk about the different ways you experience and share the love you and God have for each other.  Do you need to be purposeful about taking more time to love on Jesus as a family?  


Why don’t you take some time right now to worship Him!  Whatever works for your family—sing, talk, write and share, maybe even head outside to rake a neighbor’s lawn.  Think about the immeasurable love God has for you all and then respond!

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