This morning I’ll send my girl to school with a backpack full of valentines and a heart full of love. I try to be intentional about teaching her to love well but if I’m honest, she’s teaching me more about how to love others than I’ve deposited in her heart. Because it’s so much easier to love well before life reveals all those things that keep us from loving well. Competition. Disagreement. Pride. Indifference. Selfishness {not the kid-kind, the uglier, more mature, one-should-know-better adult version}. Hurt. Abandon. Baggage {oh, so much baggage}.
So as much as I’ve focused on how to teach my girl to love her friends well, I’ve been compelled to pause and look at my own heart. This week I’ve been drawn to these scriptures to meditate and study on what the One who is Love has to say about how to love well.
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12 Scriptures to Help Me {+ maybe You} Love Well
Loving in Unity.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Philippians 2:1-2
Loving in Humility.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4
Loving with Confidence.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18
Loving Uniquely.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Peter 4:8-10
Loving by Example.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35
Loving Sacrificially.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. . .Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16, 18
Loving with Peace.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:14-15
Loving with Character.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Loving with Honor.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:9-18
Loving in Patience.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
Loving through Service.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Loving like Christ.
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40 {NIV}
Download your printable version >> 12 Scriptures to Help Me Love Well
What are some of your favorite scriptures on love? What are some ways you are purposing to love well in your life?
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all scripture taken from ESV unless otherwise noted
Hi! I’m not a mom (yet lol) but lately it’s been really heavy on my heart to learn how to truly love like Christ. Someone very close to me passed away unexpectedly earlier this year, and her favorite phrase and the hashtag we use for her now is LOVE WELL. She radiated the definition of it so beautifully, and I’ve always wanted a heart so pure like hers. This morning I woke up with those two words in my spirit, and decided to do a study on love. The fact that you compiled this list of scriptures that I really needed at this time in my life and tied it specifically to Love Well, something so significant to me, is a confirmation I know God is speaking and guiding me, and using even the painful things in life to fulfill his purpose for me. Thanks for your obedience to him in writing this! Who knew you would touch someone who isn’t even a mother two years after creating it in such a mighty way! God bless you! Much love, Charmaine
This is oh so true… my kids too teach me more about love than I do them. I love these scriptures. Thanks so much!