Highlight This passage is a perfect ending to a week of readings about love: “Above all things, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (v14) In Matthew 22, Jesus said the greatest of God’s commandments were to love Him and to love others. In John 15, Jesus gives a new commandment, to love one another the same way that He loved us. Over and over, Jesus emphasized the centrality of love for his followers and Paul’s teaching here agrees with that. In Colossians 3, Paul (like Jesus did) says that many things are important for a Christ follower yet one thing is of greatest importance: love. This harmonizes with his teachings in 1 Corinthians, declaring that we can do all of the other things that Jesus has called us to do but if we lack love then we are not actually following the example of Jesus nor will we glorify Him as we ought to.  Read More

Highlight The word for “love” throughout these verses is agape. Agape is a specific word for love that describes unconditional love. It’s an active, sacrificial, other-centered love. This is the love that reflects the love of God towards us. In English we have phrases like ‘falling in love,’ which implies that love is a feeling that happens to you. But God’s love is not something that happens to Him… It’s who He is. And in the teachings of Jesus about love, the emphasis is not on a feeling but on action. Agape is action oriented, a choice that we make to seek the well-being of others over our own well-being. That is how we were loved by Jesus and thus is how we ought to love others.   Read More

Highlight A key question that Paul is trying to answer in Romans 8 is how to process suffering as a Christian. As he closes the chapter, he beautifully connects the current and future confidence of a believer to the works of God in the past. The key verses are vv31-32, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” God has not given empty promises. To look on the cross is to be reminded that God gave his dearest to help the neediest. If He did that, then it naturally follows that the same gracious spirit will not withhold anything from those who are His. We can be assured of that now and forever.  Read More

Highlight The heart of this passage is the word remain/abide, which is used fifteen times in the first eleven verses. All spiritual power for living out the Christian life comes from God. There is only one way for a believer to receive this power: remaining in unbroken fellowship with the source of the power. In v7, Jesus puts an emphasis on his words abiding in us. To meditate on the words of Jesus is to be in communion with him. When we open ourselves to the words of Jesus, we discover that we experience a genuine encounter with Jesus himself.  Read More

Highlight This chapter is one of the most well-known passages in all of Scripture… and for good reason. Because this passage is so familiar, it’s a great opportunity to stop and reflect deeply on it. A simple way to do that is to take the most well known verses (vv 4-8) and replace the word “love” with two different names. First, read the verses and every time the verse says “love” replace it with your own name. Let Scripture convict and exhort you to be more loving. Second, replace the word “love” with the name “Jesus.” Let Scripture guide you in how to adore our Lord and Savior!  Read More

WELCOME Welcome to Week 01 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan. This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about right here. We all start with innocent notions of love that our world can quickly shatter; turns out relationships are more complicated than a nursery rhyme In the First Comes Love series we’re going to examine the biblical understanding of love by focusing on topics like friendship, singleness, loneliness, marriage, sex and family. In this reading plan, we will spend time in stories and teachings that will deepen our own understanding of the Bible’s instruction in these areas.  Read More