“Livin’ Large is experiencing the new life we have in Christ. It is living the Christian life in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is practicing (Ephesians 4-6) our position (Ephesians 1-3).”
John 13:34-35
34 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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 John 4:9-11
9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8Love never ends.
Love is the most fundamental truth of Christianity. Being a Christian is being someone who is the recipient of God’s unconditional love. Following Christ is to own for oneself the dual commandment of loving God and loving neighbor. Livin’ Large is living a life of love that is different from the world. The love that characterizes Christ followers is “agape” love. This is God’s unconditional love. This love is described in 1 Corinthians 13. This is the love that we are to have for one another. This love comes from God. To live differently from the world will mean that we receive God’s love and express God’s love towards one another. This love is sacrificial, it is practical and it is tangible. We cannot merely profess love, we must demonstrate it. When we do, we live as true followers of Christ.
Ask God to fill you with His love. Confess and repent of any areas of your life where Christ’s love is not evident. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ and ask God for tangible opportunities to express “agape” love. The call of Christ on our lives is to love one another as Christ has loved us. That’s living differently from the world. That’s Livin’ Large!