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Sincere Love Isn't Enough
Brian Mashburn and Ryan Porche
August 21, 2016
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Sincere Love Isn't Enough
1 Peter 1:22 (NIV): Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
Say what?! Are you saying "sincere love" isn't the end? Come on! You and I both know developing a sincere love for another person can be a miracle all on its own. But in our passage today, Peter suggests there's more—we're called to a deeper, sacrificial love for others.
Sound challenging? Yep.
Is it messy? You have no idea.
Then we have a problem, right? We're all limited in our ability to care for others. If I continue to sacrifice for others, then before long I'll be putting myself at risk. How can such a habit be sustainable? Here's the truth: real love, deep love, is hard. It's messy and it's exhausting.
And yet we know a God whose love for us "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (1 Corinthians 13:7). And we are called to become like Him.
So how can we make sense of all this? How could we possibly practice a deeper, sacrificial love for others?